Picture Book: The Book with No Pictures

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Evaluation of the book:

The Book with No Pictures is exactly what its name makes it out to be; a picture book with no pictures. Although words do usually play a prominent role in picture books, they usually have pictures to go with them to help tell the story. This book, however, uses only words to engage its readers. Specifically, it uses words to engage its listeners at the expense of its reader. Children normally have pictures to look at while being read to; this book flips things and engages the children in the words themselves because the words make the adult reader do and say funny things.

The bizarre words that the reader must read are distinguished from the normal narration by big, colorful fonts. This way, the children watching/listening can recognize the difference between the “normal” reading and the fun version going on in this book. The large, colorful, weird arrangements of words on a page let the observer know that something special is going on, that the words themselves are doing something different. Otherwise the listeners might think that words like “blork,” “bluurf,” and “BooBooButt” are real words.

From the perspective of the reader, the different colored and sized fonts help determine what voice/tone in which to read the words. Colorful words get special emphasis, and certain arrangements of words get special tones as is obvious by the page that announces that the listener is “THE BEST KID EVER.” The all-caps, double-paged, announcement-like arrangement guides the reader in shouting the words in an old-timey announcer’s voice.

Response:

The Book with No Pictures does a great job showing that words themselves, and the act of reading, can be more than just informational; it can be fun and entertaining. This is an incredibly important lesson for young readers to learn. However, this book’s one downside is that it has to be read out loud in order for it to have its full effect on the listener. A child looking at the book on his own won’t understand what’s going on. That being said, the book is very entertaining and I wish it had been around when I was little so I could have watched my parents read it to my siblings and me!

Conclusion:

An excellent way for children to learn the entertaining side of the written word, I heartily recommend The Book with No Pictures to anyone who reads aloud to children, whether their own or their students. By making adults “say silly things” and make “silly noises,” this book connects children to the written word in a very important way. And it’s vastly entertaining for both reader and listener alike!



APA Style Reference: 

Novak, B. J. (2014). The book with no pictures. New York, NY: Penguin Group.