In this audio edition of Colbert’s children’s book, Tom Hanks performs a rhyming story about a metal pole suffering from an existential crisis. The pole goes through numerous jobs—he tries working at a barber shop; he tries working at a strip club—before (spoiler alert) deciding to become a flag pole: “the very best kind of pole that I could hope to be.” A large portion of this eight-minute production features Colbert interrupting Hanks by trying to read the title’s ISBN and by attempting to convince Hanks to re-read the text in Spanish. Despite its brevity, this audiobook boasts excellent production values, a soundtrack, and an entertaining reading from Hanks—he is, after all, an Academy Award–winning actor—who has excellent chemistry with Colbert. A Grand Central hardcover. (May)

Starring a dopily earnest, bug-eyed pole seeking a purpose in life, Colbert’s tongue-in-cheek debut picture book was born out of a segment with Maurice Sendak on the Colbert Report, in which the late author/illustrator decried the talentless individuals (particularly celebrities) creating children’s books. The result: a patriotic parody of saccharine, over-earnest picture books. Colbert’s deadpan humor traipses into the tactless as he riffs on singsong verse (“I maypoled for a month,/ Learning pagans aren’t my type.../ I didn’t cut it as a totem—/ Me no smoke-um the peace pipe”), and the digital illustrations, unskilled by design, mock amateurish art. Pole’s pursuits underscore that Colbert’s adult fans will be the book’s primary audience—like Go the F**k to Sleep, this is a not-for-children “children’s book” (Pole considers becoming a “Gallup poll” and interns as a stripper pole before becoming an American flagpole). Still, Colbert affirms his place as a master of the kind of satire that, if you aren’t paying attention, you might just miss is a joke. Agent: Dan Strone, Trident Media Group. (May)