Review - The Book That Never Ends

The Book That Never Ends (Books That Drive Kids CRAZY! #5)
by Beck & Matt Stanton
Date: 2019
Publisher: ABC Books
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

For the Grown-Ups:

They say all good things come to an end ... but don't hold your breath!

You and the kids are about to zigzag your way through this book. Your choices will take you who-knows-where.

There's a legend that some people once found the end, but we're not convinced.

Oh, you think you can? Well, you're welcome to try.

And the kids will love it!

From the mind-boggling brains behind This Is a Ball, Did You Take the B from My _ook?, The Red Book and Wait! comes a brand-new crowd-pleaser!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Just when I thought I'd finished with this series, they come out with another book! Perhaps it's the series that never ends...

This book reminds me of the Choose Your Own Adventure books that were popular in the '80s and '90s. The premise is basically the same here: on each page, you choose from two or more options, and then go to the appropriate page for your next set of choices.

I wanted to make sure I saw all of it, so I read it straight through the first time. Not very interesting. So, on my second attempt, I read it as I was supposed to (note: this is not a simple thing to do with an e-book; it would be much easier with a physical book where you can flip the pages by hand). Anyway, it still wasn't very interesting, because I got to the end without having to circle around to any repeats. I guess my choices weren't that interesting (they also seemed to get me to the end rather fast, which was a little disappointing).

I guess this could be fun for kids who are too young for the Choose Your Own Adventure books, but it's probably going to be a bit boring for older kids. As far as this series goes, this book falls somewhere in the middle; it's not the worst, but it's definitely not the most entertaining of the bunch.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 2.83 out of 5

Review - Wait!

Wait! (Books That Drive Kids CRAZY! #4)
by Beck & Matt Stanton
Date: 2018
Publisher: ABC Books
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

From the brilliant brains behind This Is a Ball, Did You Take the B from My _ook? and The Red Book comes a brand-new giggle-inducing bestseller!

For the Grown-Ups:

'Wait! Just wait!' You find yourself saying this all the time, right?

Well, we're sorry, but you're gonna hate this book!

This book is going to make you wait too. Once you and the kids start reading it, you can't do anything else until it's finished.

You'll just have to ... wait.

And the kids will love it!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I figured I might as well finish this series, even though I really didn't like the last book, This Book Is Red, which could also be titled: How to Gaslight Your Kids. Wait! isn't quite as annoying or potentially damaging as This Book Is Red, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the first two books in the series, either.

Here, the premise is that once you start reading this book, you're not allowed to stop until you get to the end. You just have to wait, no matter how bored you are. (I don't know what the consequences for DNFing this one is. It's never specified.) This could be hard enough for kids, but the tables get turned when the adult reader starts to get bored too and wants to go off and do "adult" things (like the dishes). But, wait! They're not allowed to, either. So everybody's miserable together.

The overall idea for these books is okay, although I question whether This Book Is Red should be part of anyone's collection. The other three books aren't too bad, and if kids enjoy the gimmick, then I guess they could be fun reads. I don't know if I'd ever want to read them to kids, though, for fear they might become favourites. Never mind driving kids crazy; these books have the potential to drive adult readers a bit nuts, too.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.5 out of 5

Review - This Book Is Red

This Book Is Red (Books That Drive Kids CRAZY! #3)
by Beck & Matt Stanton
Date: 2018
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

This clever companion to This Is a Ball and Did You Take the B from My _ook? is the perfect read-aloud for the giggling masses who love Hervé Tullet’s Press Here, Lane Smith’s It’s a Book!, and BJ Novak’s The Book With No Pictures.

The Books That Drive Kids CRAZY! series offers parents, teachers, and storytellers a hilarious script for fun reading time with children. In Book 3, This Book Is Red, something is clearly bonkers when the narrator insists that frogs and penguins are obviously the same color as lobsters–and the claims get more outrageous from there. What is up with this nonsense? Kids will demand to know–and all readers will be howling with laughter all along the way. With strikingly simple text and art, Books That Drive Kids CRAZY! are ideal picks for emergent readers.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I've read the first two books in this series and sort of enjoyed them, but this one really rubbed me the wrong way. If you insist on reading this kiddie gaslighting garbage to your kids, make sure they've had an eye exam first to check for colourblindness. I can only imagine how confusing this book would be for people with the condition.

Instead of seeming silly and fun, this book bordered on abusive for me. Telling kids over and over that green and yellow and purple are actually red, and then breaking out the "I'm the grown-up. What I say goes" crap just gave me shivers. If kids have experienced gaslighting, this could potentially cause upset and confusion. ("They are red because I said so!" Ugh.) Even the play on the words "red" and "read" at the end couldn't save this for me.

I'm not sure why this book bothered me. The first two didn't irk me nearly so much. Maybe the gimmick is getting old. In any case, I can't recommend this one at all.

Premise: 1/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 0/5

Overall: 1.33 out of 5

Review - Did You Take the B from My _ook?

Did You Take the B from My _ook? (Books That Drive Kids CRAZY! #2)
by Beck & Matt Stanton
Date: 2016
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

From the brilliant brains behind This is a Ball comes a new giggle-inducing bestseller!

OK. Two things you need to know. Firstly, your favourite thing in the whole world is the letter B. And secondly, you're about to sneeze and all the Bs are going to be blown out of the book. So until you can get your favourite letter back, you're about to sound really, really silly ... And the kids will love it!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I think I like this book better than the first one in the series, This Is a Ball. That first one was pretty much dependent upon kids pointing out all the errors (like the alien labelled as a princess and the elephant labelled as a dog). In this book, however, the premise is that the person reading out loud (presumably an adult) sneezes and every instance of the letter B disappears from the book. This leads to some pretty funny-sounding sentences, like when the _eetle wearing the _lue _oots is jumping on the _ed and _ouncing the _all. The fun here comes from the read-out-loud sentences with the missing letters. After the text gets sillier and sillier (culminating with some _ulls joining the _eetle on the _ed), the kids are invited to help get the letter B back into the book by shouting it into being. This is probably not the best _edtime _ook as a result. But it's still fun.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 3.33 out of 5

Review - This Is a Ball

This Is a Ball (Books That Drive Kids CRAZY! #1)
by Beck & Matt Stanton
Date: 2015
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

For the giggling masses who love Hervé Tullet’s Press Here, BJ Novak’s The Book With No Pictures, and Bill Cotter’s Don’t Push the Button comes an interactive new series!

The Books That Drive Kids CRAZY! series offers parents, teachers, and storytellers a hilarious script for fun reading time together. Book 2, This Is a Ball, is a boldly absurd spin-off of concept books, and an audaciously contrarian invitation for readers to practice deadpan delivery: after all, the picture on the cover clearly shows a cube, not a ball. The page that declares a princess is flying a kite at the beach shows an alien holding a balloon in a city…and on and on. What is WRONG with this silly book? Kids will demand to know–and all readers will be howling with laughter all along the way. With strikingly simple text and art, Books That Drive Kids CRAZY! are ideal picks for emergent readers.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Our library has a whole bunch of books from this series, and I was intrigued enough to pick up the first couple (Goodreads lists this as Book 1; I'm not sure why the synopsis says otherwise).

It's goofy and silly, but it's going to have a fairly limited audience. For the premise to work as intended, the child needs to be either fairly precocious or a bit older. They need to have a good grasp of the English language, or it could cause confusion. They can't be colourblind. Some autistic kids (or any kids who take things really literally) are probably going to have a tough time with this one, and it may end up being more frustrating than entertaining. For the full effect, I think kids need to be able to get the joke.

Reading it as an adult, I enjoyed it somewhat. I think I probably would've thought it was funny when I was a little kid. Whether this is a hit or a miss is going to depend largely upon the audience. I guess parents won't really know if it'll work with their kids unless they give it a try.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3 out of 5