Book designer and rock star Chip Kidd’s second novel is coming out this month. His first novel The Cheese Monkeys told the story of a college kid in the late 50s studying graphic design. I loved it, and since I met Kidd and learned he has a sequel coming out, I’ve been looking forward it. It’s called The Learners, and it hits bookstores February 19. This novel is set in 1961, and follows the protagonist into his first ad agency job. One day Happy (no kidding, that’s his name) designs a newspaper ad recruiting participants for an Yale Psychology Department experiment and decides to answer the ad himself. Yikes. Amazon says, “Written in sharp, witty prose and peppered with absorbing ruminations on graphic design, The Learners again shows that Chip Kidd’s writing is every bit as original, stunning, and memorable as his celebrated book jackets.” The cover also features a great ink illustration by Chris Ware.
