Illustration above from: All the Buildings in New York
To kick off our new blog series: PLACES WE LOVE, we are excited to bring you one of our favorite girls, Lisa Jee, Design Manager at the legendary Strand Bookstore in NYC. We got to pick her brain about her favorite children's books and what she loves about working at Strand Books!
A: (I couldn't pick just one!)
The Day The Crayons Quit, by: Drew Daywalk / Pictures by: Oliver Jeffers.
Crayons with 'tude! This is exactly how I imagine my set of crayons were like growing up!
I love this sweet tale about The Tiny King! Award winning illustrator and graphic designer, Taro Miura, tells the story of love and family using bright, bold cutouts and use of collage.
I'm 30 and I need this book for myself. I love how Blexbolex brings life to each season through his beautiful layered, grainy, color prints. This book brings beauty to all the good and bad that comes with each season!
Q: What is the best part about working in the design department at Strand?
A: I like to think that every project we work on goes toward the goal of keeping books alive! I find so much inspiration in this store from the book covers to the personalities of our booksellers to all the unique readers that come in and roam our stacks of books. Each day there's something new!
Q: How do your book buyers find and chose your unique selection of books?
A: As booksellers we strive to make sure a book lover can leave our store with what they came in for and then some! The bookseller community is a very tight-knit group and we all rely on each other to make sure we're carrying all the best titles. We also bring in a lot of titles based on customer requests!
Q: Are there any children's art/design books you recommend or that are popular right now?
This book is written and designed for kids (ages 9+), but is great for parents too! It's a great introduction to the elements of design and ends with ten projects for your budding designer to work on!
Sneak peek inside Strand's children's section...
