My Collection of Collections – written and illustrated by Nina Chakrabarti
Laurence King Publishing, 2017
How many objects constitutes a collection? Do the collected items have to be objects, or can they be words, thoughts, or memories? Does the collection have to be assembled deliberately? Nina Chakrabarti more than answers these, and other, relevant questions in her picture book, My Collection of Collections. The authors credited on the cover are Chakrabati herself and, with a space provided for adding a name, the reader of this book.
Not only perfect for any child, or adult, contemplating starting a collection or curating one, it’s equally appealing on aesthetic grounds. The book is interactive, including stickers, and suggestions for expanding on existing drawings. Most important, it considers the universal urge to accumulate, categorize, and sometimes display whatever element is appealing to an individual. Some are well known: stamps, dinosaurs, mugs, shoes. Some are fading in popularity: stamps again. Maybe it’s time for a revival! Some are deliberate, others accidental. Unlike other hobbies, no special skills are absolutely necessary, although a particular collector might develop a great deal of knowledge and eventually build and arrange her collection with greater expertise.
The pictures are whimsical, affectionate, funny, and as carefully composed as the collections themselves. A page of sugar packets features graphic design in different languages, fonts, and styles. A white coffee cup releases red steam, a red bird flies under a flag proclaiming “ZUCCHERO,” and a cylinder of brown sugar is broken in the middle and spills sweet stuff. Chakrabarti provides helpful suggestions in the form of obvious qualities one may have missed, such as “COLLECTIONS can BE EDIBLE,” and “COLLECTIONS are a WAY of UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD we LIVE in…” Don’t forget that “COLLECTIONS CAN BE ECLECTIC,” such as one attributed to “RAFI, AGED 11-½ .” He has good taste, as evidence by his agate slice, origami crane, and ammonite fossil.
Learning the names of different collecting categories has always exercised some fascination. Philatelists collect stamps, while falerists favor medals. A Wunderkammer is a cabinet of assorted curiosities. In fact, the book itself fits this definition. Curiosity, in the broader sense, is the underlying message. In addition to objects, collections may gather dreams, words, and secrets. A two-page spread of the random evidence of life that turns up in a railway lost and found suggest an imaginative activity: “Invent a story using all the lost items.”
Whether you own a matchbook decorated with a hedgehog whose quills are matches, or a bunch of blue elements that might have something in common in addition to their color, My Collection of Collections should get you started. Space and time are the only limits.
Imaginary Elevators 