Dinosaurs
Bastien Contraire

A clear and stylized big format book to explore the fascinating theme of dinosaurs with the younger ones.

The aim of this book is to give children as young as 2 markers to understand the great principles of a 200-million-years-old world. To make precise scientific information accessible, Bastien Contraire uses comparative scales: children discover that diplodocuses were as long as two buses, that protoceratops were barely taller than sheep, and that a tyronnausaur’s tooth was as high as the book they are holding in their hands… Other pages give information about the dinosaurs’ diet, lifestyle or diet, always in a playful way.

Bastien Contraire’s use of stencils and 3 Pantone colours produces original stylized shapes while providing accurate information.

Bastien Contraire
The author and illustrator

An autodidact, Bastien Contraire first developed his work through self-publishing, before dedicating himself to children’s books. It is by designing the covers of a fanzine that he co-edited that he tried out stencils, appreciated the imperatives of this technique and liked the game of superimposing layers of colours. Published in 2016, his first picture book, Les Intrus, displayed naturalist plates hiding an anomaly. It was followed by three board books, Animaux, Véhicules and Aliments. In 2020, he published Au Contraire at Albin Michel Jeunesse.

In parallel with his activity of author and illustrator, he designs exhibitions for children with an experimental and playful approach.