Milk Teeth

by Julie Morstad

A GORGEOUS GEM, BACK IN PRINT

The Vancouver artist Julie Morstad spins fairy tales infused with dreamlike innocence and a touch of the macabre, a universe populated by animals, flowers, peculiar objects, and disembodied heads. Milk Teeth was one of the first books in D+Q's petit livre art book series, and quickly sold out.

Genres: Art, Graphic Novels, Childrens, Comics, Picture Books

104 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 2007

About the author

Julie Morstad is an award winning illustrator and artist living in Vancouver, B.C. with her husband and three kids. She received her BFA at Alberta College of Art and Design in 2004, and has since produced art for children’s books, CD and book covers, fabric, wallpaper and two animated music videos.

Reviews

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this at the fiction desk and wish we could order more in. I'd put it on the art table or karen's table. it's so nice. i love simplicity.
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[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely, whimsical, and a bit morbid. I would love to read the stories/thoughts/ideas that inspired these illustrations.

[Marmot · Rating 3 out of 5]

These pictures are decidedly creepier than I expected from my favourite children's book illustrator! I like the kids books better. Wanted to use this as my graphic novel for a reading challenge I'm doing, but as there is not a single word to read in it, I think I'll be choosing a different one!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A small art book - not much to say about it. The art is particularly nice - Morstad's ink drawings revolve around people, hair, plants and various intermingling of these themes. Creative and beautifully drawn.

[Sze · Rating 3 out of 5]

well, i wouldn't say "read" exactly, since it's all illustrations. but they are whimsical and morbid at the same time; i've spent long minutes poring over the detail, counting teacups.

[Bert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous, dreamy, surreal drawings.
Wonderful collection.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fine detail. Sweet drawings in the same way that death portraiture of children is sweet. Don't read in low light and pause to enjoy puns and other sayings that might be brought to mind.

[Clover · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love her drawings.

[Annalee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was startled at how quickly each illustration evoked a story in my mind. Morstad's work reminds me of Shaun Tan's, though considerably darker.

[Secret Society of Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really enjoy this artist and this collection of pictures goes to all kinds of places...

[Mills College Library]

741.6092 M886m 2007

[Seema Rao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surreal, and slightly morose, images of people, many of whom are robustly hirsute.

[Ani King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning.

[Child960801 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up by accident; I had meant to put a different book title Milk Teeth on hold but clicked on this one instead.

I'm really not sure what I think. The art is lovely: minimal colours, bold line work, great use of placement and negative space. I love the details like the patterns of the characters dresses or the highlights in the hair. But I'm not sure how I feel about the pictures themselves. Girls with endless hair instead of hands. Mobs of floating heads. Plants sprouting men. Each piece is seems to shout with meaning and with story but I can't hear what they are saying.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very cute and whimsical indie art book!

[Victoria Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so whimsical and thought provoking. Morstad is becoming one of my favourite illustrators.

[Francine Fang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Etching style

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the oddest books I’ve ever read!

[Shahna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are fun.

[Bobby · Rating 1 out of 5]

If there is a point to this book, it's utterly lost on me. I prefer author's other (children's) books way more.

[Gabriella]

Odd. I wouldn't exactly call this a "graphic novel", because it is simply a series of wordless illustrations; I wouldn't exactly call it "sequential art" either, as I'm not sure that there is a cohesive narrative or plot (if there was, it was lost on me). There may not be a plot, but there were recurring themes throughout the art: animals (I would say birds in particular), plants, and hair.
Some of the art is intriguing, but felt better suited to as framed prints than in the format of a book. I have difficulty rating this as the art is fine, and the artist clearly put a lot of time/work/thought into this book.
However, the book itself...not for me. It's more of an art book than a graphic novel or anything close, with no plot or storytelling (though again, if there was, it was unclear to me). The art was okay, I especially liked the hair-themed illustrations - but overall the book doesn't feel very memorable to me. It's not something I would pick up again, and I'm not sure who personally I know that I would recommend it to...but just because it's not my taste, I wouldn't feel right giving this book a one star review.