This Is Not a Picture Book!

A little creature grows frustrated with his book in this charming tale from expatriate Italian artist Sergio Ruzzier, throwing it away because it has no pictures. Repenting almost immediately, he reclaims it, realizing that he does indeed know some of the words, and that those words can do extraordinary things. They can evoke all kinds of emotions, take him on journeys far and near, and remain with him... always.

Through pure serendipity, I recently read Ruzzier's argument against the idea of reading levels - see: Let Kids Read by Sergio Ruzzier - in which the artist speaks of his great love of picture-books, both as a young boy, and as he grew older. How appropriate that here, in "This Is Not a Picture Book!", we have an exploration of show more a child's frustration with books that don't have illustrations. Although the text here is minimal, it conveys the magic of words - their power and lasting impact. The artwork, done in pen, ink and watercolor, is charming. Recommended to anyone who enjoys more metafictional picture-books, or narratives which celebrate the power of reading. show less

A little duckling is excited to find a book, but disappointed (and a little angry) to discover it has no pictures. On closer inspection, though, the ducking can read some of the words, and the white space becomes populated with different landscapes, creatures, and things. "All these words carry you away...and then...they bring you home...where they stay with you forever." The duckling (and insect friend) wind up back home in bed, clutching the book.

Cute! I love the beautiful watercolour illustrations, especially the colourful cloudy backgrounds. I don't really remember a time before I could read, but I definitely remember trying to read books that were way above my difficulty level. This book is about a little duck who is just pushing past that reading place where books with no pictures are prohibitively difficult. He's so used to pooh-poohing books with just words in them...but then he realizes he actually does know some of the words and the story starts to make sense! This is a picture book, but the endpapers contain the entire story, just in words. The beginning endpapers contain many words with the letters all jumbled up, making it more difficult to put together, but by the show more time you get to the end endpapers, all the words make sense. It's very cute. show less

I really liked this one! It introduces kids to the idea that the books they're going to read a little later on, even if they don't have pictures on the page, can create vast and limitless images in their mind. Which is basically my brain 24/7.

Y' know, if I'd read this a few months ago, I would not have appreciated it. But now I've encountered a couple of different people who are concerned about their children not being willing to graduate to chapter books, so I know they'd appreciate this. And it's not too preachy and it is charming, so yeah, I like it a lot.

(Pahrump)

Review: A cute, funny book about books of all kinds. The book talks about how books without pictures can be difficult to read, but how they take you away to other places and make us feel happy or sad. In the end were brought back home though when we close the book. Comments: This is a really fun and interesting book. I like how the character treats the book badly and feels bad about it. I think the use of two animals and the colorful vibrant illustrations in the book will keep children interested as you read it to them. I think it is a great book to introduce the different kinds of words and books that are out there to kids. The illustrations are in the cartoon artistic style which the children will enjoy. Some of the visual elements show more that are used in the illustrations are line and sharp edges, scale, direction, and motion. I look forward to reading it to my preschool class. show less

I enjoyed this book because it claimed not to be a picture book but it had pictures that told the story. The duck picked up a book with no pictures, but begins to read and realizes that the power of words alone make pictures in your head and you make up your own images in your mind.