Two Lives by Kimberly Maher

Two Lives was inspired by Daniel Wallace's novel, The Kings and Queens of Roam, an adventure about finding your place in the world and empathy. It is essential that the viewer takes an active role in the reading by pulling and pushing tabs, lifting flaps, and physically manipulating the characters, just as they manipulate one another in the story. All of the moving parts, the shadow play, and the shape shifting serve as visual metaphors for human social interactions. There is a pivotal moment in the story when one character breaks free. The escalation is depicted on the page through dramatic number placement and textural shift in value building to blackness. The numbers represent finding a way in the darkness, and the accumulation of mistreatment. To subtly introduce this concept earlier in the story line, numbers are inconspicuously placed throughout the book to peak interest and invite multiple readings. Click here to see a video of this book in action.