Labyrinths : Can You Escape from the 26 Letters of the Alphabet?

Labyrinths features 26 beautifully intricate watercolor labyrinths that are charming illustrations as much as they are challenging puzzles. Each is accompanied with snippets of prose or poetry that recall the Greek myths -- kings and gods, faithful friends, secrets of the heavens, displeased monsters and lurking spirits -- or are excerpts of famous writing, such as that of Robert Louis Stevenson.

A labyrinth's single path in and out is designed so that by walking its patterns you achieve a level of meditative calm and even spiritual enlightenment. Labyrinths are deeply imbedded in the history, art, architecture and religion of European cultures and are also seen in Hopi, Pima, Navajo and other Native American societies.

Today, children and adults alike enjoy the fun of finding their way out of labyrinths with a bit less cosmic meaning. Whether featuring a dragon or elephant, a Chinese pavilion or medieval city, the 26 labyrinths in Labyrinths are fun to do, pretty to contemplate and complex enough that with every attempt at escape you'll discover something new.

(Oh, and the solutions are included in the back of the book.)

Philippe Mignon has a degree in architecture from the School of Fine Arts in Paris. In 1985 he decided to dedicate his time to illustration and has since created animated characters for television shows and illustrated many books, including French editions of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book and Jack London's White Fang and The Call of the Wild.