Panorama: A Foldout Book

by Fani Marceau, Joëlle Jolivet (Illustrator)

An innovative format and breathtaking concept meet in this trip around the world and back again. This 32-page book fan folds out into a single panorama that takes the reader from India to Ecuador and from Iceland to Romania. Each natural scene seamlessly runs into the next, incorporating each area’s natural beauty and indigenous wildlife. On the reverse of the fanfold, the same scenes and locations are shown at night. It’s a beautiful and memorable look at the world from differing perspectives, eye-catching and completely unique.

Genres: Picture Books, Nonfiction, Animals, Nature, Childrens, Art

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Abigail]

I tend to be easily seduced by unconventional or unusual book formats, whether it be the handmade paper favored by Indian publisher Tara Books, or the fun "scanimation" technique used in titles like Gallop! , so Fani Marceau's fold-out accordion-style Panorama was almost guaranteed to intrigue me.

A simple text runs along the bottom of the pages, inviting young readers to explore the many ecosystems of the world, from the Ganges River Delta to Antarctica's Adélie Land. The book can be read in a traditional fashion, turning page by page, or can be folded out into a long, continuous panorama, which, when reversed, reveals the same scenes at night-time. There's no story to speak of, but Joëlle Jolivet's bold, engaging illustrations will keep children engaged, as they journey around the world.

[Mawada Saif]

Artistically soothing book!
The art work is great 🌟

[Claudia G-D]

Really interactive book with a series of B&W illustrations of places around the world. Can be opened out and put up in the classroom.

[Becky Allen]

This is a really interesting book, a very gentle introduction to different landscapes, habitats and animals. It would provide a great talking point for a class book for EYFS or Year 1 about the differences in habitats and animals.

It could then be used as inspiration for drawings in art about animals and habitats and a lead to a discussion about what colours might be in the different habitats. It could inspire drawings or a lesson on printing and painting or you could use it to create a version for your class of their local habitats linking to science or topic.

As a foldout book it would be so lovely to use stretched out across a class room for children to identify different features in the book.

On the reverse of the pages is the same scene but illustrated as night time which would be great to use as a spot the difference activity and talking point again.

[Erin Reilly-Sanders]

I found the art very nice, but the story a little weak. Rather than a picture book, I would rather cut off the text at the bottom and hang this one completely unfolded on my wall. Kids might really enjoy how the pictures flow into each other and looking at the tiny details of illustrations. The back side of the folded out pages is inverted and contains completely different scenes from the same global settings as the front rather than something with minor differences.

[Erin]

An amazing book - from a design and content viewpoint. The book can easily be read page by page by flopping through - but the real fun is in stretching it all out! Facts about real places and animals combined with a day/night viewpoint make for a fun and unusual book.

[Amar Pai]

The cool thing to do with this book is unfold it in a circle in your living room (or wherever you have a lot of open space). Then you and your kid (or just you) can sit inside the circle and it's like you're living in the book. It's a lot more fun to read it this way.

[N]

This is very cool and bold graphically, but I can't be asked to deal with the format, I would have to spread it out over the whole library to get a good look.

[nAeEMak نعیمک]

متاسفانه کتاب‌هایی شبیه این تقریباً دارد نسل‌شان در ایران منقرض می‌شود و البته همیشه هم کم بودند. کتاب‌های متفاوتی که در سایز و فرم و محتوا شبیه کتاب‌های همیشگی نبودند و چاپ‌شان ریسک حساب می‌شده و خیلی‌هایشان هنوز هم با همان قیمنت قدیم در کتاب‌فروشی‌ها هستند. دیبابه یکی دو کتاب دیگر شبیه این هم دارد.
کتاب به روایت قطع بزرگ از طبیعت با تصویرگری سادۀ دو رنگ است که همیشه حس دوگانه‌ای نسبت بهش دارم. گاهی برایم ترسناک است و گاهی برایم پر از شگفتی است چون پر از فضای منفی و تصاویر ساده‌ای است که با چند رد قلم ساخته می‌شوند. تمام برگه‌های کتاب بهم چسبیدند و کنار هم یک تومار/ طومار [؟] درست می‌کنند. یک طرف تومار روز است و روایت هر بخش را می‌خوانیم که هر کدام‌شان یک جایی از این دنیا است و طرف دیگر شب است و این بار در سکوت فقط به تصاویر نگاه می‌کنیم. این کتاب‌ها برای خواندن معمول طراحی نشدند بلکه باید دم دست باشند و هر بار نگاه‌شان کنیم و چیزهای تازه‌ای کشف کنیم. این کتاب‌ها تجربه‌ای جالب از کشف هستند که واقعاً اگر حوصله کنیم و بی‌عجله ورق‌شان بزنیم خیلی خوش می‌گذرد.

[Benjamin Smith]

(Teacher) I have a feeling this would work very well for a setting description and also have links with technology and geography. I can see it working very well with art as well in terms of landscaping, photography for IT and mapping for geography. A lovely book.

[Zoë]

Love the art style and the transition from day to night

[Ms. Burris]

This book was awesome and really interactive to be have paper pages of black and white ink! This book takes you around the world and shows different features of many unique places as you go along a reading journey. Then when it's time to turn around and go back home, the sun goes down and there are illustrations of the same unique places at night! I would use this book from Kindergarten through Fifth grade because it really is what you make of it. There are so many interesting places that could be emphasized and researched by the older kids while the little ones can readily make inferences from the visuals alone. The writing is interesting and concise but very thoughtful and the upper grades could analyze the text along with the illustrations and compare/contrast from day to night. This book was a Wow! book for me because it was unlike any book that I have ever read and it was really fun to fold out too!

[Hanalei1208 Be]

This books folds out to a panorama of nature scenes in different parts of the world. Explanations are below the text that can be read out loud. The illustrations are in black and white. White is dominating at first and depicts day and then on the back it is darker because it is night.

[jenny]

This book is SO cool - what a great idea!

[Katie]

The fold-out panorama of this book is amazing. The locales and their descriptions are poetic.