...But I Know What I Like - an art book review: Robots and Spaceships
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Review by Scott Tingley, March 23, 2009

In this, the first of many (or one) …But I know What I Like reviews, I will attempt to tell you, the reading public, about any new art books that I may come across in my travels as a teacher / parent / comic reviewer / kids book reviewer / web comic creator / man about town. I was sitting around wondering “I have a full plate – I wonder what else I could take on?” So here I am.

Art book publishers, if you have a book you would like reviewed by someone with a great appreciation for art in all its wonderful and weird forms but none of the fancy language, I'm your guy. Contact me at comicsintheclassroom@gmail.com. Thanks

Now, on with the review!

Robots (I always loved it when my late grandfather called them “robarts”) and spaceships. What kid doesn't love robots and spaceships? Well, I'm sure there are some, but even those that don't really like them wouldn't turn down a spaceship ride with a cool looking robot. That is why I picked up Robots and Spaceships , a collection of photographs of 50s and 60s tin robots and spaceships, from publisher Taschen Books for my grade three class a little while back. An artist friend of mine came to work with my class last year and he brought with him a box of books he thought my kids would enjoy. One of those was this Taschen book edited by tin-toy collector Teruhisa Kitahara and photographed by Yukio Shimizu . A few of the boys and girls stared at this book like it was a treasure from another world. They weren't sure what it was they were looking at, but they knew they liked it. We had a little discussion where I explained what these toys were about and I left it at that. Their writing the next week was peppered with fantastic robots and spaceships that they and their friends would ride in.

That week I went to my principal and asked for some cash to get the book for our library (we had a bit of money in a library fundraising account for just this sort of thing). It was a big hit, but after a while, as in all things, the interest died down. But that is fine. I bring it into the class every now and then for my students to look at and then it goes back into the library where it sits, waiting to be discovered by a new set of eyes so it can inspire new ideas and excitement for some unsuspecting kid.

Pretty great stuff!

Robots - Spaceships and other Tin Toys is the newer expanded version of the book I just reviewed, and although I have not read it, I can only imagine that it has more roboty goodness than the book in our library.

I may not know art, but I like this.

· Language: English, French, German

· ISBN-10: 3822850624

· ISBN-13: 978-3822850626

· Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches

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