The Day my Grand-Aunt Turned into a Library

Where It All Began

‘The Day My Grand-Aunt Turned into a Library’ is a perspective book about my childhood is filled with the fascination of reading. In the form of an accordion, the book follows two different stories, told from my perspective as well as my grand-aunt’s viewpoint, following similar storylines.

I wanted to look at translating the message of why reading means something to us and why stories mean something to us.  This interpretation would be in the form of imagery, which would be physically represented in the form of a book taking elements of accordion styles.

My target audience was initially directed towards young children. In recent times of the pandemic, and with the newer generations of children in urban populations, I have noticed a growing attachment to our technological devices. Children are also given liberty in owning a device at a young age, and books seem to be things of the past. I want to re-introduce the idea and importance of book reading by describing events of my own life; how reading books impacted my childhood in some of the most fascinating ways and continue to influence me today. I find that children’s books are also most meaningful because of the simplicity they have to offer. They may not portray realistic descriptions of life, but they fuel a child’s imagination and allow them to engage with their creative sides.

However, I decided to broaden my spectrum to all ages simply because the message I want to portray is important to all. I also felt that the object I chose had the quality of being universal to all age groups. Similar to an experience of reading The Little Prince, by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, I percieved it differently during all the stages of my life, which was why it was such a beautiful experience for me.