Review - Little Big Nate Draws a Blank

Little Big Nate Draws a Blank
by Lincoln Peirce
Date: 2019
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 16
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

The author of the New York Times bestselling Big Nate series introduces a younger version of this adventurous, mischievous, wildly popular character!

When Little Big Nate gets a new pack of crayons, his illustrations really come to life! In this delightful board book, Little Big Nate's imagination and love of drawing will inspire even the youngest readers to express themselves through artwork.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I'm not familiar with Big Nate, so I'm coming at this with no preconceived notions. As a simple book for toddlers, it's perfectly adequate. Little Big Nate gets a new pack of crayons, and proceeds to draw various things, all of which turn out to be too... something:

A dog? Too hairy.
A shark? Too scary.

The concept continues until the kid falls asleep. There is a sort of gentle rhythm going on with the rhyming text, so this might make an okay bedtime read.

I'm not really a fan of the illustrations, personally. That nose shadow just looks like a black booger to me; it's kind of distracting.

Overall, this isn't amazing, but it isn't terrible. There's not much story, but it might be just the thing for winding down at bedtime.

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.71 out of 5