Graham Oakley's Magical Changes

by Graham Oakley

Paperback, like new condition,

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Graham Oakley is a children's book author and illustrator, most active during the 1960s to 1980s. He is best known for the Church Mice series and also illustrated many book covers in the 60s.

For the current UK author of children's books at Top That! press see Graham Oakley.

Reviews

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will start this by saying that Graham Oakley is my favourite author/illustrator. Sadly most of his bibliography is now out of print and it took me years to hunt down all of his books. This is the only one that has no text. It is a sort of art book. I actually went through a phase in my pre-teens of getting this sort of book out of the library, so I would have probably appreciated it then. As an adult, it doesn't do that much for me. The things that I have always loved about Oakley are a) his wit and b) the intricate detail in his illustrations. You don't get much of either in this book. But I am sure others will appreciate it much more than I do.

All of the pages are split in half horizontally. On all the right pages are images that include four white cylinders and on all the left pages are images that include six beige poles. The idea is that you can turn the top or bottom half of the pages, thus mixing up the images and creating new weird ones. The best way to read it is front-to-back-to-front over and over until you have exhausted all the options. From a practical point of view, it is safer to keep the book open in a V shape rather than flat or the strain will start to rip the pages away from the spine (remember you are most likely reading a fairly old edition). The biggest flaw is also practical - the further the two halves of the page are from each other in the book, the less well they match up as you have a thick pile of paper distorting the lay slightly.

If you like looking at weird pictures that may stir your own imagination, then this book is perfect for you. It doesn't have its own plot though and overall I was not that interested by quite a few of the pictures. I think the two that did really work well for me were the one of a man lying in bed, staring in fear above him, where pretty much all the panels worked really well to suggest his madness, or the one of lines of soldiers saluting... many odd things - creating all sorts of weird dystopias.

I feel mean giving any Oakley book less than four stars, and I do appreciate the artistry that went into this one, it just doesn't do all that much for me, personally.

[Ed Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best. Book. Ever.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wordless book. My artistic 7 year old enjoyed combining the odd pictures in different ways. My 8 year old with autism found it disturbing.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anita Silvey discussed this title in her essay, "Special Citations" in the Jan/Feb 2009 issue of Horn Book. I am so glad she did. We should all go out and find a copy for our coffee tables. Don't tuck it away on a bookshelf. This book is meant to be sampled regularly. Wordless and wonderful. Graham Oakley's magic is designing a book that allows the reader to mix and match to create an opening scene for an amazing number of stories. It's a matter of flipping through the tops and bottoms of inventive illustrations that blend seamlessly. Some are funny, some disturbing, all are interesting. I've shared it with co-workers and now we all have favorite combinations.