School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-Silly, funny, and visually appealing, this work will appeal to reluctant and avid readers. An unseen narrator rails against having to read a book containing everything unpleasant: words, sentences, and especially paragraphs. The snarky, mischievous tone and colorful cartoonlike word art illustrations enhance the satire. A variety of typefaces and jumbled comments keep things interesting. The narrator questions the need for extraneous, unpronounced letters in words, such as "doubt" and for long words, such as " infinitesimal" for such small things. While castigating the entire concept of reading a whole book, the narrator actually reads the whole book, and in the process offers information to those joining him. VERDICT A great classroom read-aloud bound to make listeners join in the fun.-Eva Elisabeth VonAncken