London Book Fair

I visited the London Book Fair.

Pop up books. Taking pop-up books to a new level! Very detailed. Amazing construction.

I tried to find some children's cooking books while I was at the London Book Fair. "Baking Time" was the first that I found. It includes two characters - a chef girl and her dog, who helps with the recipes. This is a fun element, which I'm sure children will respond well too. The colours are contrasting and bright, perfect for a young audience. The cooking utensils have also been exaggerated - the whisk made larger for example - with easily recognizable shapes.

Another children's cookbook I found was by Usborne, a publishing group that I have researched in previous blog posts. This book is described as the "Beginner's Cookbook" and is therefore perhaps for a younger audience than eight-year-olds. The visual language is cartoon-like, with easily recognizable ingredients for this young audience to grasp. The colours are more background pastels with brighter colours over the top. Again, a character has been used, this time of a older boy/man. Having come across very young characters in other research (so that the children can put themselves in these characters' places) this was different.

The book has been ring-bound, so that it can be stood upright easily, which is helpful for when you are cooking. You can simply prop the book onto a counter. However, I also like how, from the front cover, the spine hides the ring-binding. I think that this gives the book a more sophisticated appearance, as sometimes ring-bounded books can seem tacky.
An image of the final meal takes up the majority of the left hand side and runs onto the right. Illustrations then go along with the short chunks of text, providing a visual explanation for those that might find this more helpful.
The background is white, which I think stops the layout from appearing overwhelming. The colours of the illustrations and photography provide enough life and colour to the page.

The layout of each page is very similar, keeping a consistent visual language throughout the book.

I also really liked this added element, the "Chef's Tip", which can appear at the corner of certain pages, to go into more depth about certain parts of the recipes. This adds a little more personalization and quirkiness, while I'm sure the character will appeal to the young audience.

Next is the "Start to Cook" book. I personally love the visual language of the front cover, the charming illustrations and splashes of bright colours against the neutral background. The style has an almost vintage appearance, yet is modernized by the bright colours.
The shapes are soft and rounded, appealing and playful to a young audience. 
This book is described as being "suitable for all ages".

The book has helpful tabs, which allows you to flick through the recipe book to find the type of meal that you wish to make. Since it is such a thick book, I think that this will save the reader time. It is a great convince to have something like this, as well as being ring-bound, so that you can easily prop it on a counter.

The inside of this book is very similar in style to many other Usborne books. The layout is separated into very obvious grids, with the ingredients running down the left hand side, next to a large photograph of the finished meal. On the right hand side, illustrations and text show step-by-step instructions.

I love how on this page, small characters are helping with the preparation of meals. This is such a fun and playful way to demonstrate how to make the recipe (and will be helpful for visual and even kinesthetic learners).

I also noticed that a lot of books that I found at the Fair make use of interaction, which draws children further into the books. There were stories that featured sound, books with flaps to be opened etc.