The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak

from goodreads

5 stars

The kids are back in school and I am starting to settle into my old routines. Ah bliss.

Over the holiday I thought I would have much more time for reading. But instead of the reading stack lowering it seems to be growing! Perhaps I have been a bit too ambitious.

I guess that is the nice thing about getting into a routine again. My routine always includes a little (my husband might say a lot of) time for reading. When the routine is gone other things can more easily fill the time. How do you fit in time to read? Do you have a dedicated time during the day or do you treat yourself after you do certain tasks? When do you read?

Synopsis

This book has no pictures but, it sure has a heck of a lot of words, and with words comes the power to delight.

My Thoughts

My family got this book for Christmas. I had seen it in bookstore emails and other online lists but had never taken the time to actually check it out. When we unwrapped it I was very happy and excited. I wanted to see if the book lived up with all the fuss it seemed to be given.

This was a very cool book. Miss G.'s teacher had read it to the class. Miss G. Was excited to share her favourite page that said "boo boo butt". Seriously, add the word butt to anything and kids will smile, okay adults will smile too. It must be a kid thing because I know my friends and I gave a snigger or two if we ever heard that word. There were so many other silly words. The kids were laughing and Miss V. was saying "is that even real word" in her very grown up 7 year old way.

I like how Novak lays down the rules for reading aloud. His rule is whatever is written on the page the person reading it has to say. And he makes the reader say a lot of silly things. I think this makes the kids enjoy this book even more. Usually parents or adults are so proper, and now they get to be silly too.

I also like how Novak adds what the reader is probably thinking. I think the adult readers appreciate that.

This is a great book that shows how fun words can be, that a book can be hilarious and engaging with out the need of pictures, and that reading and words can bring people together and provide them with a wonderful experience. I highly recommend it.