Board Book Trailer Reveal: You Are Light by Aaron Becker

Remember that moment at the beginning of the graduate when Dustin Hoffman gets pulled aside and is told, “One word: Plastics”. That guy was way off. Me? If I could pull any up-and-coming author/illustrator aside I’d say something else.

“Two words: board books.”

The future is board books. Grab the nearest issue of Publishers Weekly if you don’t believe me. Any issue. It really doesn’t matter. Turn a couple pages in and see how books are doing compared to last year. Adult Nonfiction sales might be slightly lower. Children’s Fiction sales may be higher. But board books? Board books are always up. On average 12% higher in terms of sales than the previous year. These sales do not falter or plateau, they only climb. And already we’re seeing children’s book illustrators beginning to experiment when them in interesting new ways. Just look at last year’s crop as an example. Then look at the books in 2017 and 2016. They just keep getting better.

So if I’d been thinking about it, I would have realized that an artist like Aaron Becker would see an opportunity there. If you know Becker’s name it’s probably from that magnificent quest trio of picture books,  Journey, Quest, and Return. Becker took a seemingly simple form, the picture book, and gave it breadth and depth without sacrificing child-interest and focus. But apparently that wasn’t enough of a challenge because now he’s created a board book and it’s a doozy of a marvel.

Friends and neighbors, I give to you, YOU ARE THE LIGHT, out March 26th, in a trailer Mr. Becker created himself:

As you can see, the book works with die cuts and transparent paper. It’s a far simpler construction than, say, Journey, but you’ll find its message is where the depth lies.

When you get your hands on a copy, it’ll be all you can do not to find the nearest window. I know I couldn’t resist the lure:

Thank you Aaron and the good folks at Candlewick for this book trailer reveal. Can’t wait to see what he does with easy books someday.

Filed under: Best Books of 2019, Videos