HOW TO READ A VERY SERIOUS BOOK https://ift.tt/KQ512Yf

Book Cover

Cartoon-style illustrations use wordless opening scenes to show two children (one is brown-skinned; the other presents Asian) reading books with plain gray covers. Then an offstage speaker interrupts to judge these books by their covers, deeming them “BORING and HO-HUM” and “VERY SERIOUS BOOKS!” The tone becomes congratulatory and subtly conspiratorial as the narrator encourages the children to find ways “to let EVERYONE ELSE know you are reading a very serious book.” What follows is a humorous scene as the kids read the supposedly serious books in front of others while wearing mustaches, sporting glasses, sipping tea, and so on. When some rambunctious squirrels disrupt their picnic and send the books flying, illustrations reveal that these gray books have panels as in a graphic novel—much like the layout of this story’s own spreads. The punchline seems to be that the children’s books weren’t so serious after all, though the sophistication of the interplay between text and art cleverly belies that message. A closing image positions the brown-skinned adult who joins the children and reads with them as the offstage speaker and reinforces the pleasures of reading illustrated books.



from Kirkus Reviews https://ift.tt/gxn8u2i

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