Note: This review was originally written for GeekDad.
If you're a picture book connoisseur, chances are you're already familiar with Lane Smith, who has often illustrated books by Jon Scieszka (like The True Story of the Three Little Pigs) as well as many other authors including himself. He has a special talent for creating artwork that looks as if it belongs in an earlier era.
Smith's latest picture book, on sale today, is called It's a Book
It's a very cute book, short and sweet. The illustrations are charming—particularly the monkey's expressions—and your kids will love the silly questions the donkey asks about the monkey's book. The one thing I didn't like? Well, I really don't need my six-year-old repeating the phrase "It's a book, jackass." Yeah, it's kind of funny, but I'm guessing not all parents are okay with having their picture-book-age kids incorporating that into their vocabulary. (Note: "jackass" appears twice in the book, once at the beginning, and once at the end.) My daughter decided to just substitute the word "donkey" herself, which was fine with me. Aside from that, however, I really like It's a Book. I should note, however, that I lean toward the paper book side of the debate.
You can watch a little trailer for the book to get a feel for the illustrations and humor:
Fed to jonathan's brain | August 10, 2010
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