The Most Boring Book Ever

by Brandon Sanderson, Kazu Kibuishi (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

The dynamic duo you never knew you needed, teaming up to give kids a picture book packed with everyday life, extraordinary adventure, and layers upon layers to love and laugh at.

NEW FROM MEGA-BESTSELLING DUO:

BRANDON SANDERSON, AUTHOR OF THE WAY OF KINGS

KAZU KIBUISHI, CREATOR OF AMULET...

An imaginative picture book for the whole family about an ordinary boy who is having an ordinary afternoon...until an unexpected adventure takes him by surprise.

#1 New York Times-bestselling creators Brandon Sanderson and Kazu Kibuishi have teamed up, for the first time, to create a breathtaking picture book with enchanting illustrations for readers young and old....

In this humorous epic adventure, a boy is, on the one hand, having a very ordinary day. He does his math homework, his chores, and takes a nap....all while a surprising adventure unfolds around him involving pirates, dragons, and other unexpected perils.

With clever interplay between text and art and an expansive, imaginative arc, this modern classic is a landmark fantasy picture book perfect for fans of Hugo Cabret and After the Fall.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250843661
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	09/24/2024
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	176
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Brandon Sanderson is the author of several bestselling books, including the Mistborn saga; the Stormlight Archive novels; and other novels, including The Rithmatist, the Reckoners series, and the Skyward series. He won a Hugo Award for The Emperor’s Soul, a novella set in the world of his acclaimed first novel, Elantris. Additionally, he completed Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time®. He lives in Utah with his wife and children and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University.

Kazu Kibuishi is the writer and artist of the New York Times–bestselling Amulet graphic novel series. He is also the editor/art director/cover artist of the Explorer and Flight comic anthologies, and the creator of the webcomic Copper. His debut graphic novel, Daisy Kutter: The Last Train, won a YALSA Best Books for Young Adults Award.

Editorial Reviews

08/19/2024

Opening this tongue-in-cheek title, readers will sense that no self-respecting creator would willingly call a book “the most boring ever” without having something up their narrative sleeve. For Sanderson (the Skyward series) and Kibuishi (the Amulet series), that something is the interplay between a deadpan voice, shown in text banners, and action-packed, digitally colored pen-and-ink artwork. As the text kicks off, “A boy sat in a chair,” a pale-skinned, redheaded child in an oversize derby perches in a seat that looks like it’s been borrowed from the stage set of a Viking epic. But though “sitting in chairs is boring,” successive visuals prove otherwise, propelling the boy into the sky, where a dogfight explodes between steampunk-style flying vehicles. Other “boring” activities follow, including bird-watching, thinking about laundry, and contemplating math homework. While no birds are perceived, the youth does encounter a magnificent dragon—red-scaled, yellow-eyed, and toothy—while laundry and math come in handy as he careens among the brightly colored tile roofs of an elaborately drawn town. In this world, words and pictures collide rather than collaborate—and the result is one wild ride. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Eddie Schneider, JABberwocky Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Judy Hansen, Hansen Literary. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"A surefire crowd-pleaser." — Booklist

"In this world, words and pictures collide rather than collaborate—and the result is one wild ride." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2024-08-30
In this collaboration between sci-fi novelist Sanderson and Amulet creator Kibuishi, an unreliable narrator informs readers that here be no dragons.

“A boy sat in a chair.” The book opens on a bespectacled, light-skinned child in old-fashioned attire. The narration continues, “That’s it. He just sat in a chair,” while on the opposite page, the boy’s chair has unexpectedly whisked him heavenward. The narrator attempts to convince readers that just sitting in a chair is boring. As the story continues, however, the boy is attacked by an array of sky ruffians operating vessels; fight scenes and impressive explosions ensue. A dragon makes an appearance as the narrator drones on about how dull the story is. Kibuishi’s detailed cartoon images depict an enticing steampunk-esque world. Adults reading this book to kids might want to read the text first without the pictures; on a second run they can show off the images, neatly illustrating the important interplay of text and visuals in sequential art. Unfortunately, for all that the illustrations maintain the action at a fair clip, near the end the plot grows muddled as the boy gets out of his chair but then tumbles to the ground: Was he falling and then trying to stop himself? Some adult intervention may be required to clarify what precisely is happening on the page.

Sky-based pyrotechnics make for a fun if somewhat confusing telling.(Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews