{"product_id":"the-boy-the-book-isbn-9781580895620","title":"The Boy \u0026 the Book","description":"\u003cb\u003eA spine-tingling tale of book bonding. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this  wordless story, a little boy finds a book that he loves at  the library.  It’s a match made in kid lit heaven. But not for the book.  Sometimes  the little boy’s excitement gets the better of him and the  book suffers  from possibly too much love: bent pages, tears, hugs,  tossing, and  shaking.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The poor book requires first aid from his friends.  Every time the boy  comes to the library, the books hide and plan escape  routes. But when  the book gets away from imminent danger in the boy’s  hands, the look of  loss in the boy’s eyes is enough to turn a tragic  tale into a love  story.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The boy soon learns that the book is  not just an object and is so  much more on the inside. He loves the  story the book gives him more than  the fun he had playing with it.\u003cbr\u003e Bob Kolar’s charming and hilarious illustrations show how sometimes  our  love for a good book can be too much, but with a more gentle touch,   books can give us much comfort and joy.*A nearly wordless picture book presents the \"I can read\" moment.\u003cbr\u003eA small boy with a determined, mischievous expression enters a library in the company of his mother. The look on the boy's face, perfectly rendered by Kolar (as are all the expressions), alarms the library books, and they run for their lives. The boy captures a blue-bound book and begins manhandling it as he would any toy, in the process ripping and creasing the pages. The other books look on, horrified. The boy's mother (who, unsettlingly, seems to care not a whit that the boy has mistreated a book) comes to get him. He tosses the book to the floor as he leaves. The other books lovingly glue and tape the battered book back together. A new day, and—horrors!—the boy returns. Again, the books scatter. But then the blue-bound book sees the boy's forlorn expression and suddenly understands. The book leaps from its safe perch to the boy, the boy opens the book, and it is here that the four words of text make their powerful statement—\"Once upon a time.\" For the boy has learned to read, and now books are cherished and library manners learned.\u003cbr\u003ePresented as a grand adventure, the moment when a child first learns to read is powerfully rendered in this well-made story. -\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e, *starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSlater's (\u003ci\u003eThe Bored Book\u003c\/i\u003e)  wordless story seems headed toward a lesson about mistreating library  books, but the lesson turns out to be one of surprising compassion. The  book abuser is a young library visitor with a mop of black hair who  grabs a blue book while the others flee (all of the books have  expressive faces and sticklike appendages). A question mark above the  boy's head as he opens the book signals his non-reader status. Instead,  he holds it upside down, rips it, tosses it, and folds the pages,  accompanied by anguished looks from the book itself. On a return visit,  the book's efforts to avoid the boy are futile, and he strikes again.  But then something wonderful happens: the boy learns to read, and he and  the book are reconciled. Kolar's (\u003ci\u003eStomp, Stomp!\u003c\/i\u003e) digitally made  figures are crisp and flat, and the expressions on the books' faces do  their comic work effectively. Library champions don't usually tolerate  the ill-treatment of books, but sometimes, Slater implies, what looks  like bad behavior is just boundless eagerness.\u003cbr\u003e-\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003eDavid Michael Slater’s sixteen picture books include \u003ci\u003eCheese Louise\u003c\/i\u003e (Walrus Books, 1999), \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eRing Bear \u003c\/i\u003e(Flashlight, 2004), \u003ci\u003eJacques \u0026amp; Spock\u003c\/i\u003e (Clarion, 2004), and \u003ci\u003eFlour Girl\u003c\/i\u003e (Magic Wagon, 2007). \u003ci\u003eThe Bored Book\u003c\/i\u003e (Simply Read Books, 2009) was reviewed positively in \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e. David’s collection of short fiction for adults, \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Letters\u003c\/i\u003e (Evermore Books, 2010), includes \"The Last Lottery,\" which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His ongoing YA series, Sacred Books (Blooming Tree Books, 2008–present), is being developed for film by producer Kevin Bannerman (Lion King\/Curious George) and screenwriter Karen Janzsen (Dolphin Tale). David lives in Reno, Nevada.Can a kid love a book too much?","brand":"Charlesbridge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304068632805,"sku":"NP9781580895620","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781580895620.jpg?v=1767738511","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-boy-the-book-isbn-9781580895620","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}