Castle
Stephen Biesty, Richard Platt
Hardcover
(Scholastic, Aug. 16, 1999)
From the creators of Man-of-War comes a close-up look inside a medieval castle, providing meticulously detailed cutaway illustrations that reveal diverse facets of life inside a castle. A knight or a baron may dwell in the 14th-century castle lovingly recreated here, but Platt and Biesty's latest book is, quite simply, fit for a king. In the style of the previous Cross-Sections titles, each oversized spread shows a cutaway view of an area of a quintessential castle and is organized around a central theme (e.g., "Building the Castle," "Livestock and Produce," "Weapons and Punishment"). Biesty brings a jeweler's eye to his seemingly infinitely detailed illustrations, while Platt supplies punchy bite-sized text blocks to highlight information about the edifice itself as well as those who lived within its walls.