Book Affair in Carlton has moved, not very far, just to the other side of Elgin Street. It’s a fantastic new shop over three levels and the children’s books are in a little nook below the stairs in the basement.
There was still a lot of children’s books to unpack when I went in but I did find one gem that I love. It is a shaped board book called The Wonderful Colourful Butterfly. I can’t tell you much about the author, Gottfried Herold or the illustrator Hajo Blank because the little info I have found is in German.
The book is shaped like a butterfly and I can’t help but laugh everytime I open the book. Each page is a different butterfly illustrated comically, each with a human like face and the best expressions. My favorite is The Blue, pictured below.
The author writes some text on the back of the book about a butterfly’s life cycle from caterpillar, to cocoon, to flying around the garden.
There is a little bit lost in the translation from German to English I think. The last paragraph is very cute…
‘Without butterflies, we would probably be the poorer, for it’s beauty is no more than a gentle breath.
Beauty, however, makes the world a little warmer, more liveable and miraculous.’
I love the middle one – the one with his tongue poking out! Does the back tell you which butterflies they are?