Review: Look! A Book! by Bob Staake

Look! A Book!
By Bob Staake
Little, Brown
ISBN: 9780316118620
$16.99
Grades K-2
In Stores

*Best New Book*

If you throw an I Spy, a Where’s Waldo, and a fiction picture book into your children’s lit blend-o-matic and hit puree, what you get is Look! A Book! – pure entertainment in printed form. I can’t wait to start circulating this.

A boy and a girl pick up a book – the same book the reader is holding in their hands:

HERE’S a CRAZY

SEEK & FIND

With images of every kind!

So many objects,

big and small.

Let’s see if you

Can find them

ALL….

From here on out, the spreads alternate between rhyming text set against bold colors and incredible seek and find illustrations. The conclusion of the book lists many more objects to go back and locate, ensuring hours of happy hunting.

Staake’s bright, abstract style has never been more detailed, with wildly creative results. Robots serving orange juice, dolphins wearing football helmets, clowns in shopping carts, seals operating machinery – the wackiness is seemingly endless. Kids will be pleased.

More than just an I Spy read-alike, the amount of care and consideration that went into Look! A Book! is impressive. Circular die cuts reveal objects that become part of the text. Staake smartly names only one object for the reader to locate on each seek and find spread, a decision that keeps the proceedings moving along during the first reading.

The verdict on this book is short and sweet. Get it. For your children’s collection, your kids, your neighbor’s kids – basically anyone that is or even vaguely resembles a youngster. It will receive a warm welcome everywhere.

Review copy from publisher

Watch the Look! A Book! trailer:

Also reviewed by Boing Boing, Mundie Kids, books4yourkids.

Find this book at your local library with WorldCat.

Filed under: *Best New Books*, Reviews