The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet include drawings, charts, and lists accompanying the written elements. These drawings are purported to be done by T.S. himself, who also provides each with an explanatory caption that deepens the book's narrative. This is designed to mimic T.S.'s own habit of quantifying the world around him using cartography. Larsen has stated that this technique was not originally intended to be included in the book's format, finishing a complete first draft of the work before he "discovered the margins as a playground of T.S.’s mind." Larsen's parents were both visual artists (his mother a painter and photographer, his father a printmaker),
All's Fair at the Fair All's Fair at the Fair All's Fair at the Fair is a seven-minute cartoon released in 1938. A Color Classic produced by Max Fleischer, it was distributed by Paramount. The Film Daily called the short a "novelty cartoon" and gave the following review: "A couple of sticks visit the fair grounds where the World's Fair is being held, and find themselves participating in a series of adventures with the ultra-modern mechanism operated by robots. Finally, they reach the dance pavilion, and the wife and husband each are taken in hand by robots and whirled around the floor. Other mechanical gags