Fiction - General & Miscellaneous, Alphabet

Peter Blake's ABC

Name: Peter Blake's ABC
Author: Peter Blake
ISBN: 9781854378163

by Peter Blake, Marcus Leith (Photographer), Andrew Dunkley

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Overview

British Pop artist Peter Blake has an eye for the quirky and the overlooked. Best known for designing the cover of The Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Blake has never stopped working. This charming ABC is composed from the extensive collection of objects and ephemera he has gathered in his studio during his long career. Designed in close collaboration with the artist, Peter Blake’s ABC displays the strong graphic sensibility and the love of popular culture for which he is renowned. This charming book will delight young and old alike.

Synopsis

Publishers Weekly

This small-format ABC book displays photographs of assorted objects from British pop artist Peter Blake's personal collection. The letters of the alphabet, on the left side of each spread, are made of weathered metals and wood, and appear above phrases that describe the images on the opposing pages. For “G is for Gnome,” a timeworn garden gnome reclines with his green stocking feet crossed and, for “M is for Motor Car,” there's a Volkswagen bug that appears to be crafted from metal scraps of household products. The eclectic and surprising panoply should appeal both to adult Blake fans and early readers. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)

About the Author, Peter Blake

Peter Blake was a pioneer of the Pop Art movement in the UK in the 1950s and

’60s. His interest in and appropriation of popular culture, as seen in his portraits of movie and pop stars and his re-creations of commercial packaging, predated Warhol. With his design for the album cover of the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and other works, he helped create a British Pop aesthetic that defined an era. He continues to work today, and generations of artists have cited him as an influence.

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Editorials

Children's Literature - Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

Blake has produced an ABC of the most basic kind: a photograph of a single item on the page opposite the text, from "A is for apple" to "Z is for Zebra." The items illustrated all come from his personal collection of toys and objects. Each large, upper-case letter fills its page with quiet authority; the objects also fill their given space. Each stimulates a different emotion, some comic like an insect orchestra and others informative like the array of nautical knots. The end pages are photographs of a few cabinet shelves overcrowded with objects children have played with over the years. Blake adds a note on his selection. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

School Library Journal

K Up—Pop-artist Blake has organized an alphabet book using items from his personal collection of antique toys and other objects, including letters. An author's note mentions that he aims to offer children a book that does not talk down to them. Words like "Gnome," "Knots," and "Xmas" are found along with more traditional choices such as "Apple" and "Cat." Each spread reveals a letter with a phrase underneath ("A is for Apple") and a color photograph opposite. British influence appears with "Queen" and a bust of Elizabeth II, and "Union Jack" and a detail of the British flag. Think of this book as an ABC for young artists and nostalgic adults.—Lisa Glasscock, Columbine Public Library, Littleton, CO