Friday, December 4, 2020

Review - Abner & Ian Get Right-Side Up

Abner & Ian Get Right-Side Up

by Dave Eggers
illustrated by Laura Park
Date: 2019
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 80
Format: e-book
Source: library

Abner and Ian are stuck sideways. It's a problem.

Abner and Ian are stuck sideways on the pages of their picture book. They can't start the story like this! Ian is trying to be brave, despite his dizziness and fear of heights. But don't worry, because Abner has a plan: Readers will shake and turn the book until they get right side up! Sounds easy, right? Think again, because the real solution may be the opposite of what you'd expect.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

In the tradition of interactive picture books like Don't Push the Button! comes this silly story about a duck and a rodent who find themselves stuck sideways on the pages of their book. When they enlist the reader for help, the results aren't quite what they were hoping for... and things get really strange.

The interactive element here is basically just getting the reader to shake the book, so it's not as involved as some other similar picture books. But the draw here will be the characters and their banter as they wait for their problem to be resolved. Ian is verbose and a little pretentious, in contrast with Abner, who's a more matter-of-fact sort of duck.

If you enjoy interactive picture books, you might like this one. It's probably not going to appeal to super-young readers, however, thanks to Ian's wordy ways.

Quotable moment:


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

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 3.5 out of 5

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