This is Paris

At dawn on August 25, 1944, the Second French Armored Division entered Paris, ending the German occupation. Charles de Galle led a parade that day down the Champs Elysees. Although Hitler had ordered the destruction of the city, the occupying German officer ignored that decree and surrendered instead.

The book of the day, This is Paris by Miroslav Sasek, focuses on none of these amazing historic events. What it presents, in full glorious color, is a tribute to the City of Lights. But certainly the author had been a witness to many of the events in Europe during World War II and immediately afterward.

After the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia, Sasek left his homeland and studied first in Paris before eventually settling in Munich. While he worked for Radio Free Europe, he noticed that tourists were often ill-prepared for sightseeing. So he wrote his first travel guide for families in 1959, This is Paris. Because of the book’s success, Sasek created a series with thirteen addition titles, on places such as London, Rome, and New York.

Sasek renders the buildings of Paris in images pleasing to the eye, but he also focuses on the people of the city. He incorporates stamps, currency, flags, costumes, and customs. He had a penchant for white space and bold color. Although adults can enjoy everything about this large, oversized book, Sasek focused on details of interest to children. This is Paris begins by introducing readers to the cats of the city and then shows street artists, the bird market, and the cemetery for dogs. In sixty pages he presents the highlights of Paris, providing just enough information to send readers off to other sources. Simply looking at this book makes me want to contact a travel agent, immediately.

But like all nonfiction, Sasek’s titles became inaccurate over time. After forty years This Was Paris would have been a better title for our book of the day. Hence by the time I published Children’s Books and Their Creators in 1995 I had to say, sadly, that these gems were out of print. Fortunately, the art book publisher Rizzo brought This is Paris back into print in 2004. They retained the large size of the book, captured the color and quality of the artwork, and printed the images on a beautiful cream paper. The resulting book sets higher standards for production than the original American edition. Using an asterisk to indicate facts that have changed, the publisher provides an updated “This is Paris…Today” section on current facts.

Now “it’s your turn to see Paris with your own eyes,” Sasek writes at the end of his book. For anyone traveling to the city, or anyone who wants to provide lessons in culture and geography, no finer book exists than this one. I’m so happy the children of this generation have a chance to look at this incredible example of graphic design and information brought together.

But why am I still writing? Get me on a plane to the City of Lights!

Here’s a page from This is Paris: