The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Parachini, Jodie

This Is a Serious Book

32 pp. | Greenwillow | October, 2016 | Trade ISBN 978-0-06-247052-2 $17.99

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Daniel Rieley. "Everything in this book is thoughtful, proper, respectable, and, of course, very, very serious," insists an omniscient narrator. Not so, according to the prim-looking animals enlisted to model serious behavior: as pages are turned, their antics appropriate more and more space until finally it's party time. When the narrator capitulates ("I give up"), readers and listeners will feel victorious as well as satisfied.

Reviewer: Nell Beram