Graeme Base Henry N. Abrams, Inc. Fiction, CH Novelty/Picture Book Themes: Anthropomorphism, Classics ****+
Description
From armored armadillos to zany zebras, noted artist Graeme Base takes a tour through the alphabet.
Review
With his imaginative and detailed paintings, Base provides a modern classic, a visual treat for readers young and old. Every image contains numerous hidden items
relating to the letter at hand, some references being more obscure than others. The author also hides himself. Some of his pictures get short-changed, partially plowed
over by adjacent letters; they each deserved a full-page spread. It's still a fun alphabet book... even for those of us just collecting it for the pictures.
Graeme Base Henry N. Abrams, Inc. Fiction, CH Fantasy/Humor/Picture Book Themes: Bestiaries, Dragons ****+
Description
In this eleventh-anniversary edition (because only sad, money-grubbing fools push a tenth-anniversary edition), noted and dubious Professor Greasebeam
presents the written accounts of four (yes, four) pioneers of serpentology, whose often-accidental discoveries contributed so much to the field. From the
Viking sailor Bjorn of Bromme to failed conquistador Francisco de Nuevo, from remote Asia to the Canadian woods, travel the world and witness the wonders
of dragons.
Review
I was doing some shelf-tidying and realized I had never gotten around to reviewing this book, so I'm rectifying that oversight now. From the first page,
Base establishes a firmly tongue-in-cheek overtone, a tone reinforced not only by the whimsical main illustrations, but by running illustrated journals at
the bottom of each page, following the (mis)adventures of the entirely fictitious explorers. One might be tempted to see this as a knockoff of the wildly
popular Dragonology books (by "Dr. Ernest Drake", or rather Dugald A. Steer), but those were actually released in 2006, ten years after the
original edition of The Discovery of Dragons; this version, with an added section on New World dragons, was released in 2007. In truth, they're a
bit apples-and-oranges. The Dragonology books draw on real-world mythology and have an overall more serious, if still child-friendly, tone, while
Base has no such pretensions; even his fictitious persona Greasebeam is basically admitting the whole thing is a joke, with very little resemblance to
actual dragon lore in the dubious written accounts. There are some unfortunate stereotypes repeated, if intentionally exaggerated for humorous effect, but
overall it's clearly meant to be taken lightly. It makes a fun counterpoint to the mythical field guide genre that has become so popular and which can
sometimes take itself a bit too seriously.
