With a little creativity and a lot of color, Duncan saves the day.

Some are tired, others underutilized, while a few want official titles. Black wants to be considered a color-in color, and Peach? He’s naked without his wrapper! This anthropomorphized lot amicably requests workplace changes in hand-lettered writing, explaining their work stoppage to a surprised Duncan. Gray is exhausted from coloring expansive spaces (elephants, rhinos and whales). Red is overworked, laboring even on holidays. Although the closing pages beg the implied child reader to “please please please please / please / choose a book with pictures” for subsequent reading, it’s likely that this request will be ignored.Ī riotously fresh take on breaking the fourth wall.ĭuncan wants to draw, but instead of crayons, he finds a stack of letters listing the crayons’ demands in this humorous tale. Nonsense words, silly words to be sung and even a smattering of potty talk for good measure all coalesce in riotous read-aloud fare. Employing direct address, it pleads with the implied child listener to allow him or her to stop reading. Furthermore, the text implies (or rather, demands) a shared reading transaction, in which an adult is compelled to read the text aloud, no matter how “COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS” it is. What this book does have is text, and it’s presented through artful typography that visually conveys its changing tone to guide oral readings. has brown hair and blue eyes,” in order to keep with the book’s central conceit. The jacket flap even eschews a glossy photo, instead saying “B.J. It doesn’t even seem fair to call it such, since it has nothing to do with his Emmy Award–winning writing for The Office or the fame his broader career has afforded him.

Television writer, actor and comedian Novak delivers a rare find, indeed: a very good celebrity picture book. This book may not have pictures, but it’s sure to inspire lots of conversations-and laughs.

The book with no pictures bj novak