{"id":3431,"date":"2016-10-15T21:02:08","date_gmt":"2016-10-15T19:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/?p=3431"},"modified":"2025-09-12T14:17:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T12:17:04","slug":"der-fuchs-und-der-stern-coralie-bickford-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/2016\/10\/the-fox-and-the-star-coralie-bickford-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fox and the Star \u2022 Coralie Bickford-Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

I no longer remember how I discovered this book. It was during a little online shopping session while I was hunting for handsome editions. That happens again and again\u2014especially when I\u2019m currently reading a dog-eared paperback, which is often unavoidable, since many books, classics in particular, are either out of print in new editions or, if they are, appear only as plain little volumes. And when I stumbled across the cover, the style looked familiar\u2014and it quickly became clear why. What follows is a post with a great many photographs, and it will soon be obvious why: this is a book you simply have to show and look at.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Der<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Fox and the Star<\/em> is a short fairy tale about a fox whose best friend is a star that shines for him at night and becomes his constant companion. One day, however, the star suddenly disappears. The central message is about overcoming one\u2019s fears, and so the reader accompanies the fox as he searches for his star. It\u2019s a charming story and a book that falls somewhere between children\u2019s book, gift book, fairy tale, and artwork. Originally published in English, it was taken under the wing of Insel Verlag and added to their program in German.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Der<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The author of this book, Coralie Bickford-Smith, is no stranger. She is one of the most internationally renowned book designers and has created some truly beautiful books for Penguin Classics. And those are very handsome books, one has to say\u2014top-tier for anyone who, like me, simply loves the book arts. I\u2019d love to see these editions for the German market as well. I\u2019d get them all, no matter the cost, because I simply can\u2019t resist such lovely works. I hope Insel Verlag has set the ball rolling here and that all the other books illustrated by Coralie Bickford-Smith will also be published in German (a broad hint\u2014fence post, fence, and the entire Penguin Classics program).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Der<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Coralie Bickford-Smith studied typography in London, where she also lives. On her website<\/a> you can admire several of her books (that\u2019s also where I \u201cborrowed\u201d the idea of photographing her beautiful book amidst ferns\u2014which perfectly matches the story\u2019s mood and looks great). You\u2019ll also find her books on the Penguin Classics page<\/a>, and I even discovered a Tumblr fan page<\/a>. I also found an interesting video<\/a> in which Bickford-Smith presents The Fox and the Star<\/em>. It\u2019s well worth watching (just under three minutes), beautifully made, and I find she comes across as very likeable\u2014after these few impressions I\u2019d place her, somehow, in the \u201cartist nerd\u201d category.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The book itself contains very little text. A page holds at most two sentences, and the book consists primarily of illustrations. They appear simple yet expressive and have a character all their own\u2014atmospheric and fairy-tale-like, rich in textures and ornaments. The book is truly a small work of art, a joy to hold in one\u2019s hands. The production quality is high, and even the sewn binding with threads dyed to match the fox is a detail that makes my heart beat faster. The cloth cover with its beautiful pattern is the absolute highlight; you really couldn\u2019t wish for more from a book. No expense was spared on the paper either, and it\u2019s one of those books that, in the shadowed glow of slanting morning light, looks different and gains even more presence.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Der<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

All told, though, you can read the book in perhaps ten minutes. As beautiful as it is, I would have liked considerably more content and had expected a slightly more substantial fairy tale. The idea behind the story is quite nice, but it lacks depth and, for me, belongs more in the category of a children\u2019s picture book. So I immediately ran a test\u2014and it went over very well with the little ones. As a children\u2019s book, then, it already passes. From my point of view, however, it can\u2019t quite keep up in variety and story with the premium children\u2019s picture books. Given its presentation, I wouldn\u2019t necessarily hand it to a child; it\u2019s really more of a gift book, since it\u2019s so refined and the illustrations feel rather \u201cgrown-up.\u201d But then the story is, again, a bit too thin for that. It isn\u2019t easy to pigeonhole this book (not that one needs to). I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who loves the book arts\u2014who enjoys holding a beautiful volume, savoring the feel of the fine cloth binding under one\u2019s fingertips, and delighting in the lovely details and illustrations.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Der<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Conclusion:<\/strong> Anyone who pulls this book from their shelf holds a very beautiful little work of art whose haptics and visuals are pure pleasure. In terms of book design, everything has been done right\u2014which is no surprise, since the author is one of the most renowned book designers around. The illustrations are beautiful, simple, and artful, with a style all their own; they lend the story its particular color and mood. The story itself, however, is very short\u2014about ten minutes to read\u2014and offers only limited depth. It\u2019s very well suited as a children\u2019s book, but it feels so refined that it belongs more to the category of book art and is therefore a must for anyone who loves fine editions and deluxe volumes. In the end, the pleasure was a bit too brief for me; I would have wished for a fairy-tale narrative of 200 to 300 pages, which, together with the lovely illustrations and wonderful production, could have provided a much longer reading delight.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Der<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Book information:<\/strong> The Fox and the Star<\/em> \u2022 Coralie Bickford-Smith \u2022 Insel Verlag \u2022 64 pages \u2022 ISBN 9783458176862<\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I no longer remember how I discovered this book. It was during a little online shopping session while I was hunting for handsome editions. That happens again and again\u2014especially when I\u2019m currently reading a dog-eared paperback, which is often unavoidable, since many books, classics in particular, are either out of print in new editions or, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Fox and the Star \u2022 Coralie Bickford-Smith”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Der Fuchs und der Stern \u2022 Coralie Bickford-Smith - lesestunden","description":"Ich wei\u00df nicht mehr wie ich dieses Buch entdeckt habe. Es war eine kleine Online-Shopping-Session, bei der ich nach schmucken Ausgaben gesucht habe. Das kommt i"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[83,20],"tags":[117],"class_list":["post-3431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-childrens-book","category-reviews","tag-coralie-bickford-smith"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/der_fuchs_und_der_stern_beitrag_2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11084,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3431\/revisions\/11084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesestunden.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}