Duopress Debuts with a Trio of Board Books

By Sally Lodge, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 4/10/2008

New York City-based duopress, which launches this month with three board books, aims to reach its audience with a combination of style and substance. The press’s founder, Mauricio Velázquez de León, was an editor in educational publishing for more than 10 years and has also worked in publishing in his native Mexico. “After many years of watching the marketplace, I finally decided on the kind of books I wanted to publish and decided that this was the right time to launch a press,” he says of his decision to start the company.

Velázquez de León currently relies on freelancers, but hopes to hire two or three employees by year’s end. On his first list: Sounds Funny! A Book About Comic Sounds by Kevin Somers, and two counting books, 123 New York and 123 USA by Puck, illustrated by Somers. Due out this fall is Sounds Tough! Big Noisy Machines, a follow-up to Sounds Funny, and another counting book, 123 California. Independent Publishers Group distributes the company’s books; duopress will initially publish five to seven books annually.

According to Velázquez de León, duopress books possess “a fun spirit and contemporary style” and are “designed to stimulate children’s imaginations, language development and sense of play.” That contemporary style is evident in Sounds Funny!, which introduces youngsters to such onomatopoeic sounds as the vroom of a car and the squeak of a rubber ducky through simple, bold images that blend elements of comic-book and pop art. “We wanted to offer a book with art that appealed to young parents who want to share with their children visual media—like comic-book art—that they grew up with,” says Velázquez de León. “Classically illustrated books are beautiful and children should definitely read them, but we want to expose them to something different, too.”

Kevin Somers, an artist who has worked in comics and animation and is the author of Meaner Than the Meanest, published by Hyperion in 2001, drew the illustrations for Sounds Funny! by hand with an ink brush and then added color and texture in Photoshop. “Everything I do is some sort of departure from earlier work,” he says, adding that he believes the book’s format to be particularly unique. “I give very young readers their first glimpse into sequential storytelling by breaking each spread into a two-panel strip. The simplified cartooning with exaggerated comic colors and print patterns lend a hand in making this, and upcoming books in this series, stand out.”

Puck, the author of duopress’s counting book series, is a pseudonym for Velázquez de León himself. “I came up with these books’ concept and though there isn’t a lot of text involved, I wanted the books to have an author credit,” he says. Why Puck? “Well, my own name is so long that I thought it would be distracting on the cover,” he replies. “And my late grandfather, a celebrated journalist in Spain, wrote under the name of Puck, so I thought it would be fun to use it.”

The name Velázquez de León chose for his company is also rooted in his personal life. “I have two and a half year-old twins,” he explains. “Since everything in my life now comes in twos, ‘duopress’ made sense.” Additionally, he says the name also represents the dual channels through which the press plans to sell its books: the trade and the gift and specialty markets. “One reason we were especially happy to sign with IPG as our distributor is that that company covers both of these worlds very well.”

Somers is also pleased to be on board duopress’s maiden voyage. He observes that the company “has such a mind for quality and is doing some of the most innovative books out there.” The publisher has been promoting its inaugural titles with “drawing parties” at New York City bookstores; forthcoming events are scheduled at Word Books in Brooklyn on April 12 and Bank Street Bookstore on May 17. “I’ve done readings and singings before, but I think the drawing parties are going to be more fun because the kids will be more involved,” says Somers, who will participate in the events. “The opportunity to share art with children firsthand is about as gratifying as it gets.”