A Good and Happy Child
The Crown Publishing Group, New York, New York, 2007
Description
A Good and Happy Child straddles the line between horror and psychological drama, and explores the concept of demons—real and imaginary. Eleven-year-old George Davies’ father, an intellectual college professor and student of demonology, dies a mysterious death after traveling to Latin America to investigate some occult happenings. Shortly after, George is visited by a “Friend” that only he can see, who leads him on terrifying journeys to another dimension, providing him with a frightening awareness of his father’s death.
I immediately thought of Posada’s woodcuts and how his work was often used in Mexico on religious pamphlets for the illiterate. This particular print seemed an obvious literal interpretation of the Christian concepts of demons in the story; the twist comes with the juxtaposition of the saccharine title and the understated type treatment. Because Posada’s prints were handmade and tactile, I tried to approach the production of the jacket as if it were being handprinted on an offset press: using a toothy ivory Tomahawk stock; overprinting the art on only two other colors; leaving the band of white the color of the paper. I added some dimension by embossing the type with black foil.
Juror Notes
The contrast between the title and the strikingly colored demons makes this a well-designed jacket.
Credits
- Design firm
- The Crown Publishing Group
- Art director
- Erin Schell
- Designer
- Erin Schell
- Illustrator
- José Guadalupe Posada (1852–1913)
- Production director
- Jie Yang
- Author
- Justin Evans
- Editor
- Sally Kim
- Trim size
- 6.25 x 9.5 inches
- Typefaces
- Script MT, Trade Gothic bold condensed
- Jacket printer
- Coral Graphics
- Paper
- Tomahawk, cream, 80 lb. cover
- Publisher
- Shaye Areheart Books