This Is M. Sasek: The Extraordinary Life and Travels of the Beloved Children’s Book Illustrator

This illustrated scrapbook pays homage to the work of midcentury illustrator M. Sasek (1916–1980), best known for his This Is... series of travel guides for children. Trained as an illustrator in Czechoslovakia, Sasek was in Paris working on the first in his planned series of city guides for kids when Soviet tanks rolled into Prague in 1948 and his Czech publisher was jailed. Unable to make a living as an illustrator in Paris, Sasek moved to Munich, where he began a short but successful career in broadcasting at Radio Free Europe. When This Is Paris was eventually published in London in 1959, its pairing of architectural drawing with affectionate caricatures of city life was an instant success and led to the publication of 17 other guides between 1959 and 1974. The series was widely translated and published across Europe and North America. Only in the Eastern Bloc, which included his native country of Czechoslovakia, was his work suppressed. The irony of this is not lost on Czech children’s book author Cerná, who emphasizes Sasek’s international acclaim in this workmanlike biography. The book is enlivened by a wealth of visual material, including reproductions of Sasek’s early work, many illustrations from the This Is... series, and copies of letters from young fans. As this illustrated book aptly shows, Sasek’s books exemplified an era in which world travel became possible for ordinary citizens, and his smooth, cosmopolitan style still looks fresh today. (Feb.)