The Other Side

In the spirit of "The Other SIde," I'm going to put the bottom line on top: ALthough this book defies categorization, it's not really a kids' book. I suppose some kids in elementary school might enjoy the graphic style, and "get" the basic premise (which is either "what happens next?" or "what would this look like from a different perspective?"), the verbal and visual references, wit, puns, allusions, and reverals might elude them. "The Other Side" is an unusual and very creative book consisting of a series of high quality graphic and op art illustrations, presenting a scene and, on the following page, what the scene looks like from "the other side." For clarity, here are some examples: We see a picture of caged tiger at a zoo looking out at a little girl and her cat. Hmmm...what might happen next, or,--as on some pages--what is the reverse of this? Turn the page, and we see the girl and the tiger looking at the caged cat, the bars twisted as if, a la Superman, the lion (or the cat?) had separated the bars. Another simple favorite is two views of boys playing with a football: One page shows the view of the hiker's behind from the quarterback's perspective; the next page shows the (upside-down) quarterback from the between the legs, upside-down perspective of the hiker. However, another scene shows an apparent shooting (with mannequins moving their heads to look around the corner) but it's really a film being shot. This has very little to do with reasoning or perceptual skill; for all the visual puns and surprises; it's really about the possibilities of story telling. The visual question and answers in "Other Side of" work require different kinds of reasoning Some "reversals" make logical or causal sense; others grant some artistic license--author has one notion of what "the other side" might look like--but it's not the only one. THis is not really a kid's book; I think it's most appropriate fir young teens and up. Unlike "The Red Book," a book that also plays with self-referential visuals and explores point of view, "the other side of has relatively little plot or time sequence, although most of the scenes are linked: Some of the visuals in one scene will be partially replicated or referenced in another. For example, one visual sequence begins with paper airplanes, which are echoed by a picture of small planes near a large jet, inside the jet a passenger reads a travel brochure, next, we see the woman on the brochure's cover looking up at the jet from the island shown on the brochure. However, Banyai basically stops here. (I say basically, because a dog shown on the island is--quite improbably--shown on "the other side" of a tree in a snow covered forest. ) Part of the fun is finding these mini-links between different sequences, especially since some are visual and some symbolic/language-based. At its best, then, the book occupies the same plane as Zen koans (as in the popularized, "what is the sound of one hand clapping?"), where the

When I got this book out of the library for my young kids, I'd never heard of Istvan Banyai before. However, after having this book in my possession for nearly 2 weeks now, and faced with the prospect of returning it to the library, I've just gone online and ordered several copies - one to keep, the rest to give away. What a book! I never dreamt that a picture book would hold my interest for so long. When I first got it, I spent a good 2 hours focused on it during a recent car trip (I was a passenger :-). Every time I went through the book, I saw more and more... such detail! Such wonderful ideas! All loosely tied to the idea of "The other side." Of a piece of paper, of a curtain, of a window, of a subway station... Just when I thought I'd figured out the author's tricks - he would surprise me with something out of left field. It often requires some focused thought to "get" his point. So... while you can enjoy the pictures on one level, if you have a couple of uninterrupted hours to spend with the book, you'll see so much more.

High-concept. There are certain parents for whom nothing less will do for their children. Some parents are happy if they can find ANYTHING for their kids to read. Others zero in on their child's number one obsession (trains, princesses, snot, etc.) and buy or borrow only books that concentrate on that subject. And then there are the parents that will go out and buy Istvan Banyai's, "The Other Side" in the hopes that it will make their children smarter. Coming hot on the heels of a similar (and far more child friendly) title "The Red Books" by Barbara Lehman, Banyai's latest picture book offering is beautiful, intense, and is going to be loved by a very select segment of the wider child audience. Now I would like to state for the record that I loved this book. I am also, however, twenty-seven and my taste (for all its charms) does not perfectly mirror that of your average preschooler. I also am a resident of New York City and while I have little doubt that many Upper East Side parents would like nothing better than to add, "The Other Side" to their budding genius's collections, I'm not entirely certain how welcome it will be cross country-wise. It's a deeply intelligent and quite amusing book. Just don't cry if the five-year-old you toss it to doesn't lap it up like chocolate milk. You need to understand how to read this book before you pick it up. Fortunately, the instructions are in the title itself. Everything on one page corresponds to what happens on the next by showing the "other side". Example: One page shows a boy in a coral colored cap peeking from an airplane window. Now turn the page and you find yourself on the other side of that window. You are now in the plane looking at the back of the boy's head from down a row of passengers. A boy floating merrily in a swimming pool seems to be quite close to the fin of a shark. Turn the page and that shark is actually the point of his own black flipper and an underwater seascape is now the focus of your attention. The pictures are sometimes like conjurings from the mind of David Lynch. In one picture a single woman wearing a thin strapped shirt (of which Banyai has always been a big big fan) sits alone in an empty auditorium, a single spotlight on a face that peeks from the curtain. Sometimes the pictures are remarkable in their simplicity too. A yellow page with a white circle show a tiny point piercing through. Turn the page and there stands a baby chick with its beak poking into the white. Taken separately each picture is a story and a world in and of itself. Never a big fan of words (why bother when your Hungarian sensibilities can be best expressed in silence?) "The Other Side" is an image-only journey. Banyai plays around with the tension that comes from not knowing what lies on the other side of a page in a book. The images pile up in such a way as well that in spite of the well-organized anarchy of it all, you get the distinct feeling that Banyai has created an

I'll admit to being a big fan of the still somewhat unknown artistic genius of Istvan Banyai. That said, this latest work is up to his unsurpassed standard of illustrative magic. But, don't be fooled into thinking this latest creative masterpiece is a "childrens" book. It's visual feats, or, more aptly described--feast--of color, composition and drawing mastery are like nothing else you're likely to find in the kid's, gift or art section of a book store. While there will be deserving youngsters who appreciate many aspects of his work, if you're looking for a unique visual experince and cerebral joyride, treat yourself to this marvelous book--and any other Banyai books on the market.

The Other Side is a unique exploration of, well, the other side, challenging young readers and adults alike to open their minds and explore the unknown. Using visual clues, each page graphically introduces new elements into the illustrator's clever twists and turns, new points of view that question even the obvious, the top, the bottom, the flip side of what our eyes perceive. Looking through a window, a paper airplane glides by; from the exterior of the building, an apartment house, myriad tiny planes fly on the currents of wind; then from the perspective of a jetliner, we see other such airplanes skimming the horizon. A woman sits in an empty theater, waiting for the curtain to rise, the spotlight illuminating a small head with a pointed red cap; from behind the curtain, we see that this is a clown peeking through, and on the stage with him, a ballerina, a bird in a skirt, a cat, a tiger. And so it goes, each new illustration revealing more elements of the compositions to pique our curiosity, each idiosyncratic figure with another perspective. On one side of a block, passersby are startled by a "bang!"; even the mannequins in a store window turn their attention to the commotion. But it is only a film crew, as we see from around the corner, a cowboy shoot-out in front of a toy store. The simple illustrations in black, white and gray are highlighted by the occasional spot of bright red, the simple, primary drawings belying a sophisticated mind. This is an excellent book to read with a child, an opportunity to see which one's imagination comes up with the most creative assumptions. Another title in the Chronicle Books wide variety of children's titles, The Other Side not only steps outside the box, it makes the box disappear! Luan Gaines/2005.