What do these three things have in common? A book – two books, really, and they’re both amazing.
Is it the illustrations, done in fantabulistic detail and psychedelic color? Yes.
Is it the sparse, visually invocative writing, just enough to make each creature come alive? Yes.
But most importantly, it’s the flipping fun.
Good Wives and Warriors (a collaboration between two female artists) have created illustrations for everyone from Crabtree & Evelyn to Johnnie Walker. Myth Match is their flip-book of mythological creatures. They have a more encyclopediac version, too, perfect for when the blurbs in Myth Match leave you wanting more, but the flip-page book is more fun. In Myth Match, the reader can either align the corresponding pages to show a mythological creature (Kraken, Phoenix, Encantado, Griffin…)
OR
Mis-align the front and back of the being to make an entirely new creation:
Phoe-nicorn
Kra-Neko
Mer-Fin
The possibilities are (almost) endless. And so is the writing inspiration.
What would that creature do? What stories would surround it?
This book inspired a story of mine, Immortal Medusae, about Encantados (river dolphins that change into humans). But that, by far, is not the only story hiding between these pages – perhaps you’ll find another. If so, please share it with me.
Or, enjoy their coloring pages of the Plant, Protist, and Fungi Kingdoms, and become a good wife or warrior yourself.
reader-writer 