"Round the Block" is a picture book without words, in which primary colours and geometric shapes happily move about. The Flemish illustrator Vanistendael transforms a simple square: from a setting sun into a little man who is frightened out of his wits, from a ghost to a butterfly pupa. Back and forth still turns into movement, the inorganic into organic, resulting in a beautifully designed and impressive piece of illustrative art, where colour transitions, shape changes and compositional shifts are evidently mastered.
