This month, The New York Review of Books is releasing the latest title under its Children’s Collection imprint: Alastair Reid’s Ounce Dice Trice. Originally published by Little, Brown in 1958, Ounce Dice Trice is an unconventional, exuberant poetry book made up of silly names, old words and, according to its introduction, “new words which ought to exist if they do not.” The book also features black-and-white illustrations by celebrated artist Ben Shahn, and is one of just two children’s books ever illustrated by Shahn (the other: A Boy of Old Prague by Shulamith Ish-Kishor). The book was reissued in 1991 by Abrams, but has been out of print since then.

The New York Review Children’s Collection, created in 2003, now includes over 40 titles and averages around six new titles a year. “We’re looking for books that are wonderful and lasting, and usually a little off the beaten track,” says editorial director Edwin Frank. Recent reissues include Rumor Godden’s The Mousewife (April 2009) and James Thurber’s The 13 Clocks, which has sold over 20,000 copies since its publication in July 2008. “Some of these books have fallen by the wayside,” Frank says. “There are some people who passionately remember them, but some [of them] have been forgotten.”


An interior page from Ounce Dice Trice.

One person who falls in the “passionately remember” category is Catherine Bohne, owner of Community Bookstore in Brooklyn’s Park Slope section. She still has the worn-out copy of Ounce Dice Trice given to her by her godfather at her christening in 1967. “Ben Shahn’s illustrations are fabulous, and the idea that language is beautiful and strange and that you can play with it is very appealing for children, and also very important,” she says. “The book is like an explosion of language, but with a sense of order behind it.”

Typically, titles in the New York Review Children’s Collection have a first printing of around 5,000 copies. However, Ounce Dice Trice will begin with a slightly higher initial run (6,000 copies), as the collection has continued to grow and gain momentum. As with other titles in the series, the book will be advertised in the New York Review of Books, as well as on the magazine’s Web site. “We find that many New York Review readers like to collect every book in the series,” says publicity director Jenie Hederman. Ounce Dice Trice will also be featured in ad spots during the month on WNYC Radio.

To celebrate the reissue, Books of Wonder in Manhattan will host a reading by author Alastair Reid on September 24; the event will be free and open to the public.

Ounce Dice Trice by Alastair Reid, illus. by Ben Shahn. NYR Children’s Collection, $15.99 Sept. ISBN 978-1-59017-320-6