What Is It?

It's a book!  But what kind of a book?  Is it a children's book, or an adult book disguised as a children's book?  Is it a book with a message, or just something fun and funny?

Well, it's definitely a BOOK, and it's stirring up quite a bit of chatter.  It's called It's A Book, by Lane Smith, a well known author/ illustrator. Perhaps he's best known for illustrating The Stinky Cheeseman, which was also edgy and ground breaking when it first appeared about a decade ago.

It's A Book is a simple story with two characters, a monkey who is trying to read his book, and a donkey who keeps interrupting him with questions.  "Can it text?  Blog?  Scroll?  Wi-Fi?  Tweet?" he asks.  "No... it's a book," replies the monkey over and over again.

I just watched a short video on Amazon of Lane Smith talking about It's A Book, and I love the way his own story and illustrations still make him chuckle.  Apparently, he did not intend it to have a message, but my first reaction when I read it was, YAY!!!!  Here is a champion of good old-fashioned books–– books made of paper, with bindings, and glue, and real pages that you can turn and feel, and–– even better–– he's poking fun at all those modern reading gadgets with funny names.  Hurray for Lane Smith!   Rah!  Rah!

My second reaction was, 'uh-oh!'  This is a picture book, which normally means it's for children who can't read yet, so–– I can't imagine most young children getting the point.  Will they even know what blogging and texting and scrolling mean?

So...  is it a picture book for grown-ups?

Actually, I think it is a picture book for grown-ups to read and explain to children.  And I really hope they do.  I hope parents will start early to promote the reading and enjoyment of REAL books to their children.  It's A Book is a funny (and touching) story which happens to have a valuable message.

But, there is one more "uh-oh."  It's the use of the word "jackass." It's the punchline of the whole book, referring to the donkey, of course.  It's not technically a bad word, (and Lane addresses this issue in the interview on Amazon), but I'm sure there will be some parents who will automatically want to ban this book just because of that word.  It's too bad.

If you want to get an idea of what the hoopla is about, go to Amazon and look up It's A Book, watch the interview, and see what you think!