Big Book by Mao Fujimoto: “

click images to enlarge (recommended)

As a parent, I think this is pretty fantastic. Mao Fujimoto, a student at the prestigious Tama Arts University, has redesigned the children’s fairytale, adding another dimension of true interactivity.

Big Book is precisely that – a children’s story that unfolds into a gigantic single sheet, revealing an oversized graphic of something central to the story. Fujimoto was inspired by a keen fascination about what it would be like to ride on the turtle, which carries the young fisherman to a sub-sea palace in Urashima Taro, one of Japan’s most beloved stories.

And each illustration stands alone as a gorgeous work of artistry, all by the hand of Fujimoto. Amongst her series of 5 stories, perhaps the most visually striking is the deep, dark whole featured in Alice in Wonderland. The listeners and storytellers alike can get on top of the whole book, reorienting themselves around it as they become immersed in the story, experiencing it with all 5 senses. I have nothing against digital books, but an experience like this can still only be achieved in analog and Fujimoto presents a masterful way of doing it.

I found Mao Fujimoto’s Big Book while exploring the winners of the 2011 Mitsubishi Junior Designer Award, announced on October 5, 2011. Fujimoto’s work was awarded the Naoki Sakai award. You can read our previous coverage on this award HERE.

(Via Spoon & Tamago.)