Inkswell Wright
Book interior design

True Mysteries of America's National Parks: Kids' Nonfiction Interior Layout

Interior layout for True Mysteries of America's National Parks, a Ciel Publishing book of true short stories for curious kids: full-page illustrations, bold chapter openers, “What Do You Think?” and “Did You Know?” feature boxes, clue cards and lined Explorer Notes pages.

Scope
Interior layout
Book spread from True Mysteries of America's National Parks: on the left, a full-page illustration of a boy walking into a misty forest; on the right, the opening of Chapter 1, “The Boy Who Vanished”, in bold blue type with a drop cap, on a cream page.

Our approach

Readable, story-first pages. The book is set on a warm cream background, with chapter titles and headings in a bold, rounded sans serif in deep blue and gold “Chapter” labels above them. Body text is a classic serif with a drop cap at each chapter opening, a running head with the book's title and centred page numbers. A short gold rule with a small diamond sits under every heading, tying the pages together.

Illustrated spreads. Story chapters pair a full-page illustration on the left (a campfire under the stars, a boy walking into a misty forest, a mountain meadow at sunset) with the text page on the right. Other chapters open with a simple line icon in the book's blue and gold, such as stones, a paw print, sound waves, a flower or a pine tree.

Features that get kids thinking. The layout uses a small family of feature pages: rounded “What Do You Think?” and “Listen Like a Ranger” boxes in orange, gold “Did You Know?” boxes with discussion questions, numbered “Clue File” and “Field Notes” cards on alternating blue and cream panels, and a lined “Explorer Notes” page with space for “My strongest clue” and “My best question”.

Front matter. The title page sets the title in large blue capitals over the subtitle, “Short Stories of Vanished Hikers, Hidden Caves, Ancient Secrets, and Unsolved Puzzles for Curious Kids”, with the publisher's name below, beside a contents page with dotted leaders to the page numbers.

Interior samples

  • Title page reading “True Mysteries of America's National Parks: Short Stories of Vanished Hikers, Hidden Caves, Ancient Secrets, and Unsolved Puzzles for Curious Kids”, Ciel Publishing, beside a contents page listing ten chapters with dotted leaders to the page numbers.
  • Spread with a full-page illustration of a campfire in a pine forest under a starry sky, beside the introduction, “Welcome to the Mysteries”, set in serif type under a blue heading.
  • Spread with a full-page illustration of misty blue mountains and a sunlit meadow, beside a text page with the subheadings “A Day in the Mountains” and “The Search Begins” and a running head.
  • Spread with a rounded orange-bordered “What Do You Think?” box at the end of Chapter 1, beside the Chapter 2 opener, “The Stones That Walk Alone”, with a simple stone icon.
  • Spread with the text page “Tracks Across the Playa”, beside a gold-bordered “Did You Know?” box titled “The Clue Was in the Weather” with two bold discussion questions.
  • Spread with the Chapter 4 opener, “The City in the Cliff”, and a cliff-dwelling line icon, beside a “Clue File: Life in the Cliffs” page of four numbered cards on alternating blue and cream panels.
  • Spread with a lined “Explorer Notes” page with prompts for “My strongest clue” and “My best question”, beside a “What Do You Think?” box titled “Your Turn to Investigate” with three questions.
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