Simon Books

Well I made the big push this last week to finish my Simon Bean books and they look great! They are about 90% complete because there are some stock photos I used that I need to buy (so you may see some pixilation and the word "istockphoto" on some of the images), grammatical & spelling corrections, and a few design corrections I need to make with the typography and element to grid adjustments.

I've posted PDFs of each book below. They read basically how they would if you were holding them in your hand, with it starting with the cover, to the end pages to the opening spread, and so forth. I'm hoping to have these printed on a cream colored paper to add warmth to the illustrations. I'll know for sure once I get to the printers and talk to them about it and see if they can accommodate that request. I hope you enjoy reading them, and maybe you'll learn something you didn't know along the way.

Each book's story corresponds with a healthy priority parents should adopt into their family's lifestyle.

Healthy Priority #1: Regulate calories in liquid form
SIMON Wants to Rock Out

Healthy Priority #2: Reduce processed foods in your diet
SIMON Has Rumbles in His Tummy

Healthy Priority #3: Reduce your portion sizes
SIMON Tests His Strength

Healthy Priority #4: Adopt more activity into your daily life
SIMON Goes on an Adventure

The purpose of these books is to get parents talking to their children about these healthy priorities early in their life to bring awareness and a solution to the negative effects of the food environment and sedentary lifestyles that surrounds us.

Simon Covers

Here they are! The completed Simon book covers. (baring any feedback from directors and advisors). I'm quiet pleased with 3 out of 4 of them. The Strength one is ironically the weakest. I think it's because the actual story is probably the weakest. But honestly, 3 out of 4 is a pretty good batting average when you've never written, designed, or illustrated a childrens book in your life. We'll see if in the next 3 weeks i get the urge to totally re-write that story.

If I don't re-write the story, I may re-visit the Strength cover again later. It just needs to be more dynamic, maybe making rope part attached to the ball at more of an angle would help. What's even more ironic, that cover also has the most clever play on imagery as you follow the rope to the back. I do need to re-work it, but it's late and I need to move on to something else.

I've also uploaded a PDF of the covers all opened out. The books are hardbound with dust jackets. So the covers are actually dust jackets that have a back, spine, and flaps. You'll find that the white elements going off to the spine side actually interact with things on the back of the covers. So to get the full effect of the covers click below.

Simon covers all opened up.