It’s a Book by Lane Smith
My rating: 5/5 cats
* 
yeah, i said it, what??
this is a wonderful book, perfect for those of us who are confounded by the rise of the e-readers. did no one ever see maximum overdrive??
seriously, a book will never turn on you the way a machine will.
tom fuller read this book aloud to me the other day at work. he and i are on the same page as far as technology, and it was nice to have storytime again, and even nicer to have the theme of storytime be that the simplicity of a book, although it cannot tweet or blog or scroll or text or need to be charged—will captivate you and win you over even if you are a jackass*
this book comes up as “humor” rather than “juv” in the olde b/n system, probably because of *, or maybe because children aren’t as likely to see the humor in the book/machine debate because they practically come out of computer-wombs these days.
but i think this book is a must-read, and i love the illustrations, and if i had the money, i would give a copy of this book to everyone in the library science program at my school, even if they were people who annoyed me in previous classes. it would be the least i could do.
but i am broke—buy your own copies.
there is also a shout-out to libraries, which is awesome, because i think once you get out of the nice suburbs and small towns, people forget about libraries. every time i suggest the library to a customer who is looking for an out of print book or information that i have no access to at the bookstore, they always look at me like it is a revelation. “a library??? you mean, like from the past?? they are still making those??”
yes, they are, and you should use them. and read proper, three-dimensional books. you are not a cylon.
*i love love love that people have their tightass panties in a twist over the word jackass used in this book. people on this site. educators. wow. not only is it an animal, it is the name of a television show that kids love because it is so stupid. one that has been advertised on billboards around the world. if you go to a decent zoo, in the petting zoo part, they are likely to have a jackass. there is no reason to fear that children are going to go around saying “this word” unless the attitude of the person reading it suggests that it is somehow taboo. they are just as likely to go around calling each other “monkey” or “mouse.” these are the kinds of people i was talking about recently in this review. and i know i don’t have children, nor do i earn my living from their care and maintenance, so i have no business telling other people how to handle their shit, but seriously—wow. there are worse things in the world to lose sleep over, yeah?
please don’t tell them about the titmouse.
or the booby.
or dick butkus.
please shield the children from….words!
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