Review - I Wrote You a Note

I Wrote You a Note
by Lizi Boyd
Date: 2017
Publisher: Chronicle Books (CA)
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 36
Format: e-book
Source: library

In this deceptively simple storybook from award-winning author-illustrator Lizi Boyd, readers will delight in following a note's unexpected journey and encountering a cast of charming characters along the way. The spare text is filled with the kind of repetition and rhythm that make for a captivating read-aloud, while the humor and childlike cadence will engage readers who are beginning to decipher books on their own. The brilliantly colored paintings share the gentleness of the text but also bring a joyous exuberance to this celebration of nature, curiosity, imagination, and friendship.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is probably one of those books that you're either going to like or dislike based on your view of the illustrations. The story is kind of tiresome, with a bunch of creatures finding the note and using it for different things. I just wanted to know what the note said! (We find out at the end. It's not that exciting.)

The illustrations are really stylized, and if you like them, you might like the book. But I thought they were kind of strange... and yet somehow boring. I just couldn't bring myself to care much about the story as a result.

This is a "it's-not-you-it's-me" book. I didn't like it. But there's nothing objectively awful about it, so your mileage may vary.

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

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2 out of 5