Quick Pick:

 

The Book With No Pictures

 

Dial Books for Young Readers

 

by BJ Novak

 

Reader Appeal: Young children (and their parents)

 

Genre: Picture Book

 

PopFam Rating: A

 

Quick Summary: Generally speaking, actors writing children’s books is a waste of time, but BJ Novak (The Office) is trying to change that. Novak’s innovation is a children’s picture book that—literally—has no pictures in it. This text-only phenomenon uses verbal slapstick and playful nonsense to make reading fun for both parent and child. The actor says he got the idea when reading a picture book to a friend’s child. “They basically just hand you a script and you have to read every word,” he says. “So I thought it would be funny if kids saw a book as playing a prank on the reader.” Mission accomplished BJ—and fun for all ages to read aloud.

 

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