I Don't Want to Read This Book

November 1, 2021
This humorous picture book by Greenfield follows a familiar premise: the narrator, a reluctant reader, does not want to read the book in their hands. What follows is a meta text filled with curious asides and snarky ruminations on words, sentences, paragraphs, and more, both on an individual level and structurally: “Some words are just plain RIDICULOUS,” one page reads in handwriting-like text. “Take the word DOUBT for example,” the next page continues: “What is a ‘B’ doing in there???” A goldenrod box reads, pointing to the word in question. “If no one can HEAR the B why do we have to SEE it???” Lowery’s art, done in pencil and digital media, evokes a child’s notebook, with plentiful simple doodles, word art, underlines, boxes, and more against colorfully eye-catching pages and graph paper–evoking grids in this visually compelling narrative. Ages 4–8.

November 1, 2021
After declaring refusal to do so, an unseen narrator reads this book. The book's title appears as a Post-it note attached to the cover. With lighthearted, whimsical word-art drawings, hand-lettering, a clipped pace, and a palette dominated by a warm peach tone, the story features a wry and opinionated offstage narrator who provides metatextual commentary about the scorned book at hand. "Let me guess...Words," says the snarky narrator about what to expect when opening the book. Some words, such as the word doubtwith its useless letter B, are "plain ridiculous." And then there are unnecessarily large words, such as infinitesimal, which (confoundingly) means "small." By now, the narrator has reached peak crankiness. The next objects of the narrator's ire are sentences, described as "too many words all smushed together," followed by paragraphs ("Just looking at a paragraph exhausts me") and chapters. (Cue Chapter 2!) The hyperbolic vexation is genuinely funny as medium and message converge. Words, sentences, paragraphs, an entire chapter, and the ending are presented in this anti-reading diatribe, the enddepicted in triumphant, celebratory fireworks. Greenfield's gentle satire and Lowery's genuinely entertaining cartoon translation of prose to art might charm even avid readers (who may remember once agreeing with some of the narrator's sentiments). (This book was reviewed digitally.) A feisty manifesto and appealing visual experience for those who find books thrust upon them. (Picture book. 4-8)

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December 17, 2021

PreS-Gr 2-Silly, funny, and visually appealing, this work will appeal to reluctant and avid readers. An unseen narrator rails against having to read a book containing everything unpleasant: words, sentences, and especially paragraphs. The snarky, mischievous tone and colorful cartoonlike word art illustrations enhance the satire. A variety of typefaces and jumbled comments keep things interesting. The narrator questions the need for extraneous, unpronounced letters in words, such as "doubt" and for long words, such as " infinitesimal" for such small things. While castigating the entire concept of reading a whole book, the narrator actually reads the whole book, and in the process offers information to those joining him. VERDICT A great classroom read-aloud bound to make listeners join in the fun.-Eva Elisabeth VonAncken, formerly at Trinity-Pawling Sch., Pawling, NY

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