A Book

A Book by Mordicai Gerstein
Illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein
2009

     Not a very catchy title, right?  But once you read A Book, you'll understand why it just works.  A couple of weeks ago I was reading We Are in a Book by Mo Willems to my son and I had to explain to him the role of the reader: the characters in the book only come alive when you, as the reader, "reads" them.  This same concept appears in A Book.  Its characters are asleep while we keep the book closed and wake up as we start reading them.
     A Book, is an existential story at its core.  There is a family of characters: mom, dad, boy, girl, cat and dog.  All of them with a story written about them. All except for the young girl, who wonders "Everyone has a story but me. What's my story!"  The girl then takes us on a journey through different classic stories and genres on her quest to find her story.
     The way the story is presented is very clever and original.  It's visually captivating and tons of fun.