Shigeru Ban Builds a Better World [Art for Good]
by Isadoro Saturno; illus. by Stefano Di Cristofaro
Primary    Tra    40 pp.
9/23    9798986640631    $19.99

Thoughtful book design makes a perfect container for this series entry. On heavy stock pages, Saturno and Di Cristofaro introduce young readers to a Japanese architect whose preferred medium is paper. Pritzker Prize winner Shigeru Ban has made a name for himself with his paper-tube constructions used in disaster-relief efforts, including temporary housing and such community buildings as schools and churches. Saturno uses an interactive structure to lead readers into the subject; an offstage narrator encourages a skeptical child to imagine a “house made entirely of paper and cardboard. A house you could live in.” The child, rendered with angular, modernist flair and accompanied by an equally hyper-stylized cat, expostulates, “No way! That would be impossible!” But the narrator beguiles the child with the “very sturdy” paper tubes Ban uses as “bricks,” while Di Cristofaro evokes the tensile strength of his innovative structures with intricate cut-paper renderings in minimalist compositions. An inserted twelve-page booklet made of brown paper contains photographs of Ban’s disaster-relief projects and paragraphs of text describing them; bound in, it is smaller than the surrounding book yet integrated by its medium. A Q&A with the architect, a timeline of his life, and an exhortation to child readers “to think, to be creative, and to help” close the offering. It’s all bound in a sturdy cardboard case that pays homage to Ban’s work. This striking presentation is an effective invitation to children to join Ban in using creativity to solve big problems.

From the November/December 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.