Book 138

Look!  Another Book!, by Bob Staake, Little, Brown and Company, 2012.  Preschool to Early Elementary

I had planned to start writing about Christmas books right after Thanksgiving, but then I received my pre-ordered copy of Look!  Another Book! in the mail Wednesday evening.  I tried to ignore the book, but it was as impossible to ignore as Belgian chocolate.  And just as addictive.  So, I'm calling today the end of Thanksgiving weekend (I do still have pie left).  My next book review will be for a Christmas book.  This book, however, would make an awesome Christmas present.

Look!  Another Book! is, like the first, Look!  A Book!, is a seek-and-find book.  The text in seek-and-find books usually is just there to tell you what to seek.  Not so here.  Sure you get the directions, but so much more, and the writing is at least ten times funnier than you would expect.  That's all I'm saying about the text because I refuse to give away the best rhymes.

Every two-page spread in this book is a feast, or more appropriately, a smorgasbord, for the eyes.  Not one square centimeter is wasted.  My absolute favorite, though, is the art gallery.  So many wonderful homages on that page.  The engineering in this book is no mean feat.  It made my brain hurt to try to figure out how those cut-outs can highlight individual characters or objects but seem to disappear when the page is closed.  Finally, I figured it out:  It's magic.  Don't tell me otherwise.

If you do get this book, don't skip the end-papers or the dedication -- I'm just saying.