Nikki and Jackie hope you’ll join them today for Story Time with Literary Escapism, a bi-weekly feature where they showcase various children books that fall directly in the fantasy & science fiction genres, as well as books they’re enjoying with their young children. They’re talking boardbooks, picture books, those books labeled as beginner or newly independent readers, and middle grade – anything of interest to those readers who are not quite ready for the young adult genre. So they hope you’ll join them on the carpet as they share the stories that have captured their little ones imaginations.
When I went to Psy’s preschool class to read for March’s Reading Month celebration, we did a fun little story called Substitute Creacher by Chris Gall. The kids loved it. At the end of the month, I asked Psy’s teacher if there had been any other books that had grabbed their attention and she told me about one book that they so enjoyed, her director went out and bought books for all the preschool classes. That book was B.J. Novak’s The Book With No Pictures.
A #1 New York Times bestseller, this innovative and wildly funny read-aloud by award-winning humorist/actor B.J. Novak will turn any reader into a comedian.
You might think a book with no pictures seems boring and serious. Except . . . here’s how books work. Everything written on the page has to be said by the person reading it aloud. Even if the words say . . .
BLORK. Or BLUURF.
Even if the words are a preposterous song about eating ants for breakfast, or just a list of astonishingly goofy sounds like BLAGGITY BLAGGITY and GLIBBITY GLOBBITY.
Cleverly irreverent and irresistibly silly, The Book With No Pictures is one that kids will beg to hear again and again. (And parents will be happy to oblige.)
While I was out shopping for a birthday gift, I came across a copy of The Book With No Pictures, so of course I picked it up. I had to see what it was about a book with no pictures that caught a bunch of three and four-year olds attentions. Especially one without pictures.
After just a couple of pages, I figured out why.
This is the book to read during a story time. This is the book to read when wanting to engage young minds and encourage them to participate in reading a story. This is the one book every parent must get for their child. Not only will they enjoy listening to it over and over again, but it’s one they’ll enjoy reading over and over again too.
As soon as the boys saw that I had been at Barnes & Noble, they went through the bag to see what I got. You should have seen Psy’s face when he saw The Book With No Pictures. Not only was he excited to see it, but he immediately opened it and started reading it. He’s 4.5 years old. He doesn’t know how to read, and there’s no pictures, but he still sat down and “read” it. He was eagerly flipping pages, looking and giggling at all the words.
The Monkey hadn’t seen it before, but he had heard about it, so he proceeded to sit down with Psy and read it to him. Not once, but twice. Then they had me read it to them. Then they had me read it again, twice, before they went to bed. In just under four hours, we read this book without pictures five different times.
They loved it.
The Book With No Pictures is a book of endless giggles and unabashed joy. I don’t know of any higher praise a book can get than that of a child asking to read it over and over again.
Not only did the boys have fun listening to it, but for myself, I had a lot of fun reading it as well. Even with all the fun silly words thrown in, it was an easy and fun read, and OMG did it flow.
Seriously, if you have any young readers at all – GO GET The Book With No Pictures by BJ Novak. It’s that good.
What a great compliment for any book! I love reading with my god-daughter, and little kid giggles are the happiest sound :-) I will definitely be checking out this book for her.