Do you ever get the idea that children's book authors are just trying to out-clever each other? That some authors aren't necessarily looking for the next great story but instead for the next great concept? That some authors are looking for readers to be impressed rather than engaged? That is how I felt when I began Mordicai Gerstein's "A Book." Gerstein has a lot of fun playing around with the concept of books, and in doing so he introduces readers to various genres. In "A Book," the character named "the girl" is trying to figure out what her story is. Her father, mother, and brother all have their own stories, but she is concerned with figuring out what kind of story her story will be. She travels through the pages of the book getting advice from various characters about what kind of story she should pursue. Ms. Goose suggests a fairy tale, the detective suggests a mystery, a cat suggests a historical novel, and so on. The illustrations in this book are not like traditional picture book illustrations. They are formatted in such a way that readers feel like they are looking down upon the characters who literally live inside the covers of the book. The characters even at one point look up and see the book's reader. It is all very meta. It is all very clever. As I said, when I began the book I almost rolled my eyes at the over-the-top cuteness of the concept. However, once I got into the girl's journey, once I thought about the difficult decision she had to make when there are so many story options to choose from, once I got into the spirit of this fascinating journey through the various genres of stories, I was won over by Gerstein's storytelling. He honors literature with this book and reveals to readers the power that exists in stories of all kinds ... and the stories that exist inside each of us. This picturebooks is vastly different from any other book I have read before. It contains many different perspectives from the characters, and they realize they are in the book and that a reader is watching and reading their story. The girl is looking for her story, and finds out that she is not quite sure what her story is. I think this book would be great for teaching multiple perspectives, settings, and characters. It wouldn't necessarily be a good read-aloud, but you could select a portion to read to the class depending on the minilesson you will be teaching for your class. Author: Mordicai GersteinTitle: A BookIllustrator: Mordicai GersteinPublisher: Roaring Book PressDate: April 13, 2013Genre: Humor
