Jürgen Huber and Martin Wenzel developed Finlay from an idea pitched to a children’s TV program in Germany, so its kid credentials are official. Part script, part humanist sans, part upright italic, it reads like the confident classroom cursive every penmanship workbook promises, warm enough to trigger cheer and handshakes, in the foundry’s own words. (While you are in the handwriting aisle, Contrast Foundry’s CoFo Hand deserves a look as well.)

Veronika Burian and José Scaglione grew Bree out of the lettering in TypeTogether’s own logo, and the result is handwriting with its homework done. The upright italic structure keeps the friendly, written warmth of the earlier grades, but the letterforms stand straighter and set cleaner, ready for headlines, posters, and the school newsletter masthead. This is the stage where the training wheels come off.

For the history elective, Mark van Bronkhorst looked to the great sixteenth-century French punchcutters, Robert Granjon for the roman and Pierre Haultin for the italic, then built a text face for the way we print and read now. Verdigris is not a museum piece but a sturdy, even-textured Garalde made to deliver beautiful typographic color at small sizes on modern paper and modern presses. Four hundred years of reading experience, ready for this semester.