What is a book?

In my opinion the most important thing about a book is engaging the reader/audience. So to answer *what is a book* I've decided to include examples of books that have interested me in particular...

...the first of which is a book I used to read as a child called *The Jolly Christmas Postman*



This book is actually amazing. It tells the story of a postman and his journey at christmas time...what made this book so good though was the amount of interactivity available. The highlight of which was a letter box at the end, you could pull this out (a bit like an accordian) and see all the characters in 3D.

...the second book in this entry is one that Amber showed us. Everybody has probably seen this one already now and I think it was a pretty popular one.



the fact that it got everyone talking is a sign of it's success. The main reason people seemed to like it was because it was so different...taking *pop up* to the next level, and fully making use of the *series* opportunity that a book gives you.



As you can probably guess from the cover, this book deals with pictures! Mainly illustrators work, with small bits of information about the artist/designer/picture maker. This kind of book is particularly useful as a resource for particular audiences.

Books need a target audience, a running theme, content, a cover, and to be a physical object. Of course you can get web books etc etc but one of the best things about a book is being able to touch it and flick through the pages.

The idea of a series/sequence is obviously an important aspect...and the relationship between the pages or how you get from one page to another. I used to have one book which the character travelled through the book in a hot air balloon through slots in the pages. Again, it's that interactivity with the reader which made me remember this book.