Loving a Book by Its Cover (and Design and Text...)

I have a shelf in my living room where I keep by Diana's annuals and other books (of questionable quality mind you) from my childhood. I also keep my current favourites (of excellent quality) I will keep forever and not cull when my children are older. I was looking through them today and came across a recent favourite: When You Were Small, by Sara O'Leary with illustrations by Julie Morstad. It's a charmingly simple tale of a boy who asks his father, "Tell me about when I was small." Each spread describes a situation from the fanciful life, with a literal twist, of a "very small boy." So, we see Henry walking his pet ant, standing in for a chess piece becuase "our chess board was missing one of the knights and you were the perfect size."

It was the lovely illustrations and the book design that first drew me to this book, but the text is charming, simple and fabulous too. The book recently won a design award from the Alcuin Society. You can find more on this keeper at the When You Were Small blog.