WOW! We don’t mean to brag or anything, but the GALLERY PAGE to the Official CHIP KIDD Website has been getting a lot of buzz lately! So we just wanted to say THANK YOU to all the blogs and websites out there who have been talking about it. We really appreciate it! The 1st Gallery Page has grown so much we just recently added a second one. You can access it by clicking the “GALLERY TAB” up above & then scrolling down to the bottom of that page, then just click “Next Page”. We plan on adding many more Chip Kidd-designed Book Covers and Jackets so please check back later. Also, here’s the list of sites who have mentioned it recently:

OUT OF PRINT CLOTHING
BOOKSHELF NEWS
BETTY MING LIU

The BIG Book Reading News this Summer is the much-anticipated adventure story by Peter Heller titled, “THE DOG STARS, a novel”. The basic plot goes like this:

“Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope. In his 1956 Cessna, Hig flies the perimeter of the airfield or sneaks off to the mountains to fish and to pretend that things are the way they used to be. But when a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life-something like his old life-exists beyond the airport. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return-not enough fuel to get him home-following the trail of the static-broken voice on the radio. But what he encounters and what he must face-in the people he meets, and in himself-is both better and worse than anything he could have hoped for.”

Narrated by a man who is part warrior and part dreamer, a hunter with a great shot and a heart that refuses to harden, The Dog Stars is both savagely funny and achingly sad, a breathtaking story about what it means to be human.

Peter Heller Book Signings:

Lemuria Book Store Inc
August 21st, 2012 at 5:00 pm
202 Banner Hall
4465 I-55 North
Jackson, MS 39206

SQUARE BOOKS
August 22st, 2012 at 5:00 pm
160 Courthouse Square
Oxford, MS 38655

Book Trailer Video:

Writers on Writing:

KIDS NEED TO READ is a national nonprofit foundation that promotes childhood literacy and addresses the crisis in library funding that currently exists in the United States. Providing inspiring books and literacy programs to schools, public libraries, juvenile offender facilities, dropout recovery programs, urban after-school organizations, and special education classes, the foundation works to develop a lifelong love of reading and an awareness of social responsibility in all children. This is a great cause we can ALL believe in so please do your part & spread the news. You can also make a donation or visit their website to see other ways YOU can help. Thanks!

OK, first off, we gotta say that this video might contain spoilers if you have not read the book yet. Here’s a wonderful “Book Review” Video that explains a true sci-fi classic, “Fahrenheit 451″ by Ray Bradbury. It’s a dystopian novel that the Author wrote in 1953 and has since become a must-read on many Book Lover’s Reading Lists. The novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and Firemen burn any house that contains them. Sadly, Ray Bradbury recently died. But his extremely intriguing stories will live on forever.

About the video you’re about to watch:

This guy has an interesting take on the book and explains some of the unusual details to it’s storyline. Plus, it’s kinda funny!

Today is a very important day in History! Yes, August 15th, 2012, is the 100th Birthday of Julia Child! Of course everyone at Alfred A. Knopf ( Random House ) is totally proud of this event because they’re the ones who published her Cookbook, ”Mastering The Art of French Cooking”, almost 51 years ago. The book has now become a total classic and is still a bestseller to this day. It became iconic for it’s use of very detailed illustrations that helped many people learn how to cook. One interesting side note is that Google posted a wonderful image of her today for their logo ( see pic down below ). In closing, Thank You for everything you taught us Julia Child. You are deeply missed by millions of people and will always be a true Icon and a National Treasure, “Bon Appetit!”

With the release of the recent movie trailer for the film adaptation of ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac ( 1922 - 1969 ) I thought it would be fun to share a LINK to a website where they have collected a ton of different covers for this famous book. Down below are just a few examples but if you visit the SITE you’ll be shocked by how many there are & it’s also sort of an interesting study on Graphic Design. Speaking of which, the drawing you see up above was actually done by Jack Kerouac has his idea of what the book jacket should look like. Strangely, the Publisher never considered it and even after all the covers that have been made over the years this version has never popped-up. It’s also interesting to note, about the website, that the Book Covers & Dust Jackets shown there are in English, German, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, French, etc…

ON THE ROAD was written in 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957. The book is mostly autobiographical in nature. It portrays the story of a fierce personal quest for meaning and belonging. This comes at an interesting point in American history when conformity was praised and outsiders were suspect. This was during the start of the Cold War. The book instantly became a major hit and it is considered a defining work of America’s “Beat Generation”. One thing that is pretty interesting about the creation of this book was the fact that Jack Kerouac wrote it on one solid piece of paper that he called “The Scroll”. He taped many pieces of teletype paper together to achieve this. The “Scroll” still exists & can be seen in the photo down below.

Earlier I mentioned the “new movie” coming out and you can see that trailer at the bottom of this post. But first, I think it would be best to view another video where Jack Kerouac made an early appearance on TV’s “The Steve Allen Show” in 1959. He reads from the book and it’s pretty interesting to not only hear his original voice but it also gives you an idea of “the rhythm in which he wrote it”. Many Literary Critics have labeled the style of this book as a “Jazz Piece” because of it’s continuous flow.

A statement from David Rakoff’s longtime hardcover editor, Bill Thomas:

“It is with a deeply heavy heart that I tell you our dear friend and beloved author David Rakoff passed away today at the age of 47. As many of you know David had battled cancer over the last few years; quite recently it became apparent that the cancer had returned in a form that could not be treated.

David wrote three bestselling books for Doubleday - FRAUD, DON'T GET TOO COMFORTABLE and HALF EMPTY. Because David's writing was so goddamn funny, he was often mischaracterized as a satirist, but a satirist employs exaggeration to drive home social criticism, and David saw and portrayed the world clearly. Underneath the indelible wit and perfect turns of phrase lay a sadness that people can be so cruel and selfish, and a belief that the only weapon against the world's brutality was kindness and beauty. And so he lived - he was the most gracious and considerate of men. Civility mattered a great deal to David, but for him manners were not merely a social lubricant; he believed deeply that every person was due true and meaningful attention.

It is one of the reasons hundreds of people loved David. Of course he was incredibly charming, witty and learned, a brilliant raconteur with the quickest mind imaginable. And though his life was cut infuriatingly short, it was rich beyond measure. In addition to his writing, David was a stage and screen actor, a playwright, a screenwriter (the short film for which he adapted the screenplay and starred in, "The New Tenants," won an Academy Award), a brilliant radio essayist for "This American Life," and an accomplished visual artist. He was also one of us - David spent nine years working at HarperCollins, and I urge everyone, especially assistants, to read his essays "Lush Life" (from FRAUD) and "The Satisfying Crunch of Dreams Underfoot" (from HALF EMPTY) for excruciating but uproarious portrayals of this our publishing culture. For publicists, go to YouTube and view "David Rakoff and Dave Hill Go On a Book Tour." He really did understand.

David called me five weeks ago and told me had finished his new book, which was not due until the Fall. He also told me we would be publishing it posthumously. (Characteristically, he apologized for giving me this news on the phone. Canadian to the end.) The book is a novel, in verse, called LOVE, DISHONOR, MARRY, DIE; CHERISH, PERISH. I had my doubts about the project when he proposed it, but I was wrong. It is written with humor and sympathy and tenderness, and proves him to be the master of an altogether different art form. The story leaps cities and decades as David sings the song of an America whose freedoms can be intoxicating, or devastating. It is the clearest expression of David's insistence on beauty and the necessity of kindness in a selfish world. I can think of no more fitting tribute to David than publishing the hell out of it.”

This is just a quick post to share this photo of an amazing new product from Funko, it’s an EDGAR ALLAN POE Wacky Wobbler Nodder! Yes, a “Bobble Head” of POE… with a Raven! This is the 1st one in the series but let’s hope they make many more. I wanna see one of Hunter S. Thompson or Ernest Hemingway, ha ha!

This morning Chip Kidd had the honor of appearing on NPR Radio in New York City, specifically their podcast for “NPR Books”. The main topic was, “In The E-Book World, Are Book Covers A Dying Art?”. Please CLICK HERE so you can give it a listen and also let us know what YOU think. Thanks, and Thank You NPR BOOKS!

“READING RAINBOW!” Just a quick post to share this totally hilarious video. Jimmy Fallon recently did a parody music video where he sings the TV Theme Song from “The Reading Rainbow” as Jim Morrison. He does these every now and then and ALWAYS nails it to perfection! In the past he has done Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and now, The DOORS!