The exhibition “Open + Shut: Celebrating the Art of Endpapers” is on view at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts through November 9.
Once a functional form - sturdy pages glued to the inside of a book’s cardboard covers - endpapers today are often full of wit, surprise, and deep emotion. As one of the first (and last!) visual elements readers encounter when interacting with a book, endpapers set the mood for the story inside.
“Open + Shut: Celebrating the Art of Endpapers” is curated at The Eric Carle Museum by guest curator Bruce Handy.
Bruce Handy is a longtime magazine writer and editor. He is the author of “Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children’s Literature as an Adult” and the forthcoming “Hollywood High: A Totally Epic, Way Opinionated History of Teen Movies.” He has also written four picture books, three of which were named New York Times Best Children’s Books, including, most recently, “There Was a Shadow,” illustrated by Lisk Feng. His fifth picture book, “Balloon,” illustrated by Julie Kwon, will be published this fall.
Again, “Open + Shut: Celebrating the Art of Endpapers” is on view at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art through November 9. Bruce Handy joins us now.
