Scholastic New Zealand Award
for Best Children’s Book 2019
Finalist
Designer: Vida Kelly
Title: Dear Donald Trump
Publisher: Millwood Press
Format: 275 x 210mm, 32pp, case bound. Printed on 150gsm cream woodfree stock.
Typography: Clue regular, 20pt. Mixed with hand lettering for the title, author and illustrator names. Hand lettering was chosen for the signatures in the book as children often practise their signatures to try out different ways of representing themselves and it adds a fun element to bring to the book. The page layout was designed to use the vignettes as a secondary story line; to fade them back from the main story, reducing their size and using a limited colour palette. This ensured that they receded from the full colour images of the main character and his family.
Judges’ comments: “The production values for Dear Donald Trump are lovely, the luscious felt like feel of the cream coloured paper stock. For a book themed on such a loud personality, the book has a lightness of touch – with a sense of calm contemplation in the use of soft colours echoing the reflective nature of letter writing. The illustrative sign offs of the protagonist Sam are a nice touch – capturing the themes, moods, or emotions contained in each spread.”
“A really gentle, nicely handed introduction for critical reasoning and thought process for children. The lovely illustrations evoke the nostalgia of Quentin Blake. Love the thoughtful message that negotiation, co-operation and communication is preferable to separation – effectively communicated without being preachy, nice storytelling flow. A beautifully produced book.”
“A quiet yet appealing design showcasing lovely illustrations throughout. A single, well selected font is energised with a unique signature to end each letter.”
“Exquisite production values particularly around the choice of paperstock which is reminiscent of Basildon Bond or Croxley personal letter writing days. The spatial arrangement and lightness of touch of the illustrations and overall design layout work really well. This delivers on the idea of a quiet personal voice writing to the person with the loudest voice in the world.”
