The intuitive and intentional design of "LETTERS lost then found" took me on a visually authentic journey in whichI felt truly immersed in the time, place, and emotions of Fred and Willie, two brothers with very different lives andresponsibilities trying their best to keep the family ties intact while separated by war.Through the ability to see, on each page, Fred’s optimistic, honest, and free-spirited handwriting contrasted by Willie’s controlled and careful typewritten words, the true nature of their younger and older brother relationship is revealed, all the while surrounded by the moments and monuments of each one’s life at the time.The ticker-tape delivery of the more historical account of the war that runs along the bottom of each page adds a third important contrast, one that disconnects from the personal voices we hear in the letters and gives us the facts with the cold, detached voice of the radio news.These aesthetic contrasts added a richness and layering to the story that drew me in deeply to the experience that Fred, Willie, and every person endured during that time in our history. Without the thoughtfulness of the design, this book could have easily been just another World War II account, but because of its beautiful and heartbreakingly real approach, it comes to life in a way no other book has.
Does the world really need another book about the “greatest generation?” When it’s this one, “Yes, absolutely.”Two reasons why: 1) Letters Lost Then Found – more than any Hollywood film, TV show or book this Baby Boomerhas ever seen – provides an accurate and realistic picture of what life was really like back in the day when America’scitizens did something more than slap a yellow ribbon-shaped magnet on the back of the car to “Support our Troops.”2) These wartime letters were written by two brothers who clearly loved each other. Yes, I’m a sucker for a good lovestory. I couldn’t put this Bromance down. Thank you, Amy L. Johnson, for salvaging this half-century-old conversationand using your considerable graphic design talent to make it engaging and relevant.
Treasure Amy Johnson for wading through bushels of yellowed documents, and sculpting something wondrous andelegiac from what others might have relegated to the trash. It stands as a tribute not only to her ancestors, but toanyone who fought or endured a battle, and perhaps most significantly, the arguably fading importance of storytelling.Her book will invite trembling hands to do nothing less than trace the penned letters with their own fingertips, andin the process, be transported to a bittersweet time and space where words competed with war to inhabit the deepestchambers of the heart.