Myra here.
It’s Monday, What are You Reading is a meme hosted by Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers (new host of Monday reading: Kathryn T at Book Date). Since two of our friends, Linda from Teacher Dance and Tara from A Teaching Life have been joining this meme for quite awhile now, we thought of joining this warm and inviting community.Â
I love postmodern picturebooks, even more so when they are book-themed. I am so thrilled to serendipitously discover these fairly new titles published in 2019, via National Library Board’s Overdrive.
This Is Not That Kind Of Book [Amazon | Book Depository]
Written by Christopher Healy Illustrated by Ben Mantle
Published by Random House Books for Young Readers (2019)
ISBN: 0525580298 (ISBN13: 9780525580294). Borrowed from Singapore National Library Board Overdrive. Book photos taken by me.Â
From the very first page, there seems to be some confusion among the characters in this story about exactly what kind of book this is. Letter A seems to think it is an alphabet book, but a red-caped young girl with a basket (Little Red, is that you?) claims it is supposed to be a fairy tale, and invites Letter A to come see for himself.
The twists become even more delightfully absurd as Red-caped-girl-with-the-basket found a robot instead of the big bad wolf! And the robot is also fairly convinced that this is a different kind of book. Yet even the robot is stumped as they discover a Hedgehog instead of aliens.
How the story ends, I shall leave for you to discover.
I like the unexpected twists, as well as the bravery that is required in the end for the characters to figure out exactly what kind of book this is.
Get Me Out Of This Book: Rules & Tools For Being Brave [Amazon | Book Depository]
Written by Kalli Dakos and Deborah Cholette  Illustrated by Sara Infante
Published by Holiday House (2019)
ISBN: 0823438627 (ISBN13: 9780823438624). Borrowed from Singapore National Library Board Overdrive. Book photos taken by me.Â
Among the book-themed stories that I have read (and I have devoured quite a lot over the years), I think it is only now that I encounter a story from the perspective of an anxious bookmark, who needed some training (rules and tools) on how to overcome his fears.
Hence, Max the Bookmark went back to school to learn a few strategies, like the following: (1) Breathe Deeply. (2) Make a Plan. (3) Think good thoughts.
From a clinician’s perspective, I think what Max went through was some form of systematic desensitization, except that it was packaged in a very accessible way that young people would be able to relate to and understand completely.
With the global pandemic going on, I feel that the message of this story is timely, in terms of breathing out anxieties and worries and facing one’s fears responsibly. A fairly unique take on book-themed stories, while at the same time providing “rules and tools for being brave.”
Gathering Books 
I hope I can find both of these because they look quite funny. I too have never read a book from the point of view of a bookmark–and it’s actually a great idea for a story. I always enjoy. metafiction PBs, so will definitely add these to the list. Thanks!
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Thanks so much for these books. I went right to my library hoping it might have a digital edition of This Is Not That Kind Of Book. Alas it does not. Get Me Out Of This Book: Rules & Tools For Being Brave is on order, but of now good to me know!
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I love books like this, and I haven’t read either of these–thank you for reminding me of them.
Stay safe, and happy reading this week 🙂
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These look really funny, thanks for the great post, I will have to look for this. I have read some of Christopher Healy’s novels, but did not know that he wrote picture books. Great sense of humour.
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Very much looking forward to reading both of these books, Myra. Thanks for sharing!
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I think we can use all the books about breathing out anxieties right now. Thanks!
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