The Bookish Elf: Speeding Down the Spiral: An Artful Adventure, by Deborah Goodman Davis (illustrated by Sophy Naess)

Speeding Down the Spiral:
An Artful Adventure
by Deborah Goodman Davis
Illustrator: Sophy Naess
Publisher: DGDFA
Publication Date: October 1, 2012
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Source: NetGalley

My daughter and I loved this book so much! As a matter of fact, as soon as we had finished reading it Magda asked if we could read it again. It's basically the story of a father, daughter and infant son who visit the Guggenheim museum in New York City. They start at the top of the museum's famous spiral when the dad stops to check an email on his phone. His daughter Lizzie tries her best to be patient but before she knows it, her baby brother Ben's stroller has gotten away from her and is--as the title promises--speeding down the spiral! As Lizzie chases after Ben, she passes by many of the museum's famous art works and gathers a crowd of helpers at the same time. By the time Ben's stroller makes it all the way to the bottom, he is being pursued by Lizzie, a teacher and students, a tour group, a security guard, an amateur artist and various other museum guests. Plus they've all learned a lot about the art they've seen.

I loved this book. The illustrations are perfect and certainly do justice to their subject matter (which is all further explained at the back of the book). I also like that many of the things that Lizzie learns about the art is said by characters who are huffing and puffing and running down the spiral ramp. It adds to the fun and frantic nature of the book. Well done!

I also like that the moral of the story seems to be not to spend all your time playing with your phone when you're supposed to be watching your kids. Or at least that's what I took away from it.

For more information about the book you can visit its website: speedingdownthespiral.com

Oh, also, does anyone know anything about the publisher, DGDFA? I'm 99% sure that stands for "Deborah Goodman Davis Fine Arts" so does that mean it's self-published? Or that the author has a publishing house? Either way, I was shocked to find that out. The layout and editing choices reflect the work of a larger publishing house, with many hands making it perfect. It's certainly not impossible for an author to do this on a smaller scale, but in my experience it is much harder and rarer. If this is an indication of the quality that's to come, I'll definitely be looking for more from her (and/or them)!