This Is Not A Book

This is such a clever piece of work - yes, it IS a book, but the creator Jean Jullien has very cleverly used the book format to create something 'other'. As you open each page, it turns into something that isn't quite a book - a computer (the screen on one page, the keyboard on the other), a football pitch (an aerial view), a toolbox (you open the lid and the tools are inside), a tent, even, with a boy lying on one side, his bag and boots on the other. The final spread takes you back to the cover image, with the outside of a house - open up the folds and there is the room inside the house with a cat bounding through the catflap. Because it's a board book, the pages are sturdy and the objects on its pages (keyboard, butterfly wings, open doors of the fridge) can be played with and shared. Really clever, very neat idea, and the children I've shown it to adored it and found it really funny. You could use this to discuss what actually makes a book a 'book', and follow up with an art lesson where children make their own pages for a 'not book' that the class can put together as their own 'not a book'!. Board book / Ages 2 to adult / Reviewed by Alison Bell.

Suggested Reading Age 3+