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| The Other Side | 
| Author: Istvan Banyai
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Category: Book
Buy New: $19.84
New (6) from $19.84
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 876839
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 48
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 9.9 x 7.1 x 0.4
ASIN: B00196UBWQ
Publication Date: August 4, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In The Other Side, artist, designer, provocateur Istvan Banyai takes readers on another exceptional visual journey. In graphically stunning illustrations that feature many clever twists in point of view, familiar scenes turn and turn again to show us the back, the front, the top, the bottom, the opposite, the other side of each perspective. Here's a door. What's on the other side? Here's a shoreline. What's on the other side? Here's a curtain. What's on the other side? The answers may surprise you. Delightful, sly, funny, and challenging, The Other Side will make readers want to look, and think, twice.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 mind bend July 30, 2008
I love the visual puzzles in this book--I can hardly wait until my son is old enough to "get it".
This is one AWESOME book! January 15, 2008
Ok.. Im not going to babble about this book in order to write this review. I am a college student and read some of Istavan Banyai's book for philosophy class. I stumbled upon The Other Side and decided to give it a try. Let me tell you that this book is simply amazing. I first got it for my nephew because I figured he would like the pictures in the book. However, after I "read" the book, I sadly decided to keep if for myself. I did eventually get my nephew a copy though. This book is full of meaning and is very deep. I looked at the book dozens of times. Every time I look at this book I notice something new comparing one page to the next. I love this book! It's that simple. I recommend this book too. Everyone I showed this book said nothing but great things about it as well. I honestly feel that this book should get 5 stars because of its originality, eye catching drawings, character, and the strong morale this book portrays... "the grass isn't always greener on the other side..." Enjoy!
 That's true! January 15, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The pages are interesting glimpses of possibilities on "the other side". This is a book of artwork presenting different points of view of an illustration. The book starts with drawings of how to make a paper airplane. The next illustration is a little girl practicing a cello and seeing a paper airplane fly past her window. Turn the page to see the air outside of the apartment building filled with paper airplanes which a little boy has thrown out of the window. I really enjoyed looking at that idea of "the other side". It got strange from there as disconnected scenarios trying to be connected are presented. I couldn't quite figure it all out from front to back; back to front; and middle to outside even with the help of friends. I concluded that it was just different illustrations. I found myself "on the other side" and I didn't get it.
The Flip Side of the Koan (Note: 5* is for Young Teens and Older Readers Only) November 30, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
In the spirit of "The Other SIde," I'm going to put the bottom line on top: ALthough this book defies categorization, it's not really a kids' book. I suppose some kids in elementary school might enjoy the graphic style, and "get" the basic premise (which is either "what happens next?" or "what would this look like from a different perspective?"), the verbal and visual references, wit, puns, allusions, and reverals might elude them.
"The Other Side" is an unusual and very creative book consisting of a series of high quality graphic and op art illustrations, presenting a scene and, on the following page, what the scene looks like from "the other side." For clarity, here are some examples: We see a picture of caged tiger at a zoo looking out at a little girl and her cat. Hmmm...what might happen next, or,--as on some pages--what is the reverse of this? Turn the page, and we see the girl and the tiger looking at the caged cat, the bars twisted as if, a la Superman, the lion (or the cat?) had separated the bars. Another simple favorite is two views of boys playing with a football: One page shows the view of the hiker's behind from the quarterback's perspective; the next page shows the (upside-down) quarterback from the between the legs, upside-down perspective of the hiker. However, another scene shows an apparent shooting (with mannequins moving their heads to look around the corner) but it's really a film being shot. This has very little to do with reasoning or perceptual skill; for all the visual puns and surprises; it's really about the possibilities of story telling. The visual question and answers in "Other Side of" work require different kinds of reasoning Some "reversals" make logical or causal sense; others grant some artistic license--author has one notion of what "the other side" might look like--but it's not the only one.
THis is not really a kid's book; I think it's most appropriate fir young teens and up. Unlike "The Red Book," a book that also plays with self-referential visuals and explores point of view, "the other side of has relatively little plot or time sequence, although most of the scenes are linked: Some of the visuals in one scene will be partially replicated or referenced in another. For example, one visual sequence begins with paper airplanes, which are echoed by a picture of small planes near a large jet, inside the jet a passenger reads a travel brochure, next, we see the woman on the brochure's cover looking up at the jet from the island shown on the brochure. However, Banyai basically stops here. (I say basically, because a dog shown on the island is--quite improbably--shown on "the other side" of a tree in a snow covered forest. ) Part of the fun is finding these mini-links between different sequences, especially since some are visual and some symbolic/language-based.
At its best, then, the book occupies the same plane as Zen koans (as in the popularized, "what is the sound of one hand clapping?"), where the answers require imagination, and perhaps even a reconsideration of what constitutes a question and an answer. While Banyai illustrations show remarkable invention and graphic style. I think the book will appeal less to art students than to those with interests in engineering, math, and science, people who like to reader hypothesize, test theories, and observe (some of the classic elements of the scientific method), The imaginative antecedents and aftermaths may also stimulate budding writers and poets, or perhaps photographers. While this is an exciting art book for young teens intrigued by representation (and talent may be a requirement too); others may feel frustrated, or, more likely, bored by it, tossing it aside for manga--or a book about Zen.
Exceptional August 31, 2006
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A great book...I wish there were more like it. My 7-year-old and I could not stop looking at it and discussing the connections between the images. Books that capture both of our imaginations are rare.
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