I Am Book

by Joren Cull, Joren Cull (Illustrator)

Overview

A clever, amusingly meta picture book with a wholesome message that teaches kids to love themselves just the way they are.

Meet "Book"—a plain old book with a dusty yellow jacket and torn pages. When Book’s library closes, it moves to a new one in a neighboring town, expecting a friendly welcome. But the kids there don’t care for books with dusty jackets and torn pages! So, Book hatches a plan to change its jacket and rewrites its pages to fit in with the new crowd. After several hilarious failures to do so, Book finally learns to accept itself just the way it always was—spelling misteaks and all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593659243
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	03/05/2024
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	9.38(w) x 11.25(h) x 0.38(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Joren Cull is an author, illustrator, and animator from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Their work has appeared in many publications, including The New York Times, National Geographic, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Guardian, Reader’s Digest, and The Globe and Mail. Joren’s work has been celebrated with awards from American Illustration, Applied Arts, and The National Magazine Awards. They also received a Webby Award for best animation. Joren likes ice cream and records!

Editorial Reviews

11/27/2023

Narrated in rigorous rhyme by a jaunty yellow tome, Cull’s self-referential work explores confidence and fitting in at a new school. At its previous elementary, the library book was “cooler than cool,” but things get off to a rough start at New School Elementary. There, Rugrats-reminiscent patrons, portrayed with various skin tones, mock the volume: “Pffft, I Am Book? That’s so cringe,” says one. “More like I Am Trash,” retorts another, who tears a page from the volume. Hoping to change its reception, the beleaguered protagonist attempts a makeover that embraces arrayed genres, but when nothing feels right, the subject realizes that “not everyone will like me, no matter what they see./ As long as I’m still being the best book I can be.” A jokey tone weaves throughout Cull’s scenes, which lean on potty humor and puns, but the levity doesn’t quite balance the cruelty that the protagonist endures en route to s(h)elf-actualization. Ages 5–8. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Give this one to a kiddo having a rough time fitting into a new environment, or anyone who appreciates a cheeky, self-referential sense of humor."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Narrated in rigorous rhyme by a jaunty yellow tome, Cull’s self-referential work explores confidence and fitting in at a new school."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2024-01-20
A story finds its audience.

Book, the main character, was “cooler than cool” back when it was at Rufus Elementary, but for some reason it’s been moved to New School Elementary, where it hasn’t enjoyed nearly the same level of popularity. Pimply teenagers pull it off the shelf and rip out pages, other kids drop it on the floor or use it to conceal comic books, and, during a classroom read-aloud, one child yells, “The art is bad in this book!” This triggers an identity crisis, with Book trying to change itself into a horror story, a fantasy book, or a dictionary, like its other literary friends. But those helpful stories remind Book that “each person’s perfect book is…different from each other,” and at the end Book goes home with an excited reader. What could have been an important message about individuality and the right to read is muddied by a meandering plot, extremely busy illustrations, and inconsistent rhyme. Some books about books play with the creative limits of a metatext, but this one gets lost in its own goofiness, trying to stay on top of contemporary slang (“That’s so cringe!”) rather than delving into anything deeper.

An exuberant attempt at exploring metafiction that fumbles. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews