I Do Not Like Books Anymore!

by Daisy Hirst, Daisy Hirst (Illustrator)

Overview

Lovable monster siblings Natalie and Alphonse are back with big plans in a second surprisingly touching tale in which Natalie is ready to learn how to read.

Natalie and Alphonse REALLY like books. Picture books with Dad, scary stories with Mom, and especially stories they remember or make up themselves. So when it’s time for Natalie to learn to read, she thinks it will be exciting — she can have all the stories in the world now, and even read them to Alphonse. But when Natalie gets her first reading book, the letters look like squiggles and it isn’t even a good story; it’s just about a cat that can sit. “I do not like books anymore!” Natalie declares. But she still wants to make up stories. With Alphonse’s help, can she find a way to turn a love of telling stories into a love of reading stories? With her one-of-a-kind voice and wonderfully droll artwork, Daisy Hirst captures the familiar frustration of struggling to learn something new — and the particular pride that comes when you finally succeed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536203349
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	11/20/2018
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,072,442
Product dimensions:	9.60(w) x 10.30(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Daisy Hirst is the author-illustrator of The Girl with the Parrot on Her Head, Hilda and the Runaway Baby, and Alphonse, That Is Not OK to Do! She has an MA in children’s book illustration from the Cambridge School of Art and lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/01/2018
In this follow-up to Alphonse, That Is Not OK to Do!, siblings Natalie and Alphonse have become heavily invested in the prospect of Natalie learning how to read. Both already avidly consume and make stories. For Natalie, reading independently means having “all the stories in the world, whenever I want them” (she enviously eyes subway riders with reading material), while Alphonse looks forward to sharing the bounty as Natalie’s readaloud audience. But even with help from her teacher, Natalie struggles (“The words looked like prickles or birds’ feet”), and what she can read is a big snooze (“The book was about a cat. The cat could sit”). She’s ready to chuck it all when a remark from Alphonse—whose matter-of-factness makes him a terrific counterpart—opens a pathway back into narrative and print. Straightforward, empathic prose and screen-printed vignettes of biomorphic family life (red Natalie is amphibious-looking; Alphonse resembles a chunky blue rabbit) by Hirst (The Girl With the Parrot on Her Head) reassure while giving an emotionally fraught subject its full, unsentimental due. Natalie and Alphonse would approve. Ages 3–7. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Straightforward, empathic prose and screen-printed vignettes of biomorphic family life (red Natalie is amphibious-looking; Alphonse resembles a chunky blue rabbit) by Hirst (The Girl With the Parrot on Her Head) reassure while giving an emotionally fraught subject its full, unsentimental due. Natalie and Alphonse would approve.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Bold, primary colors against white space create supportive scenes peopled by this lovable family of adorable, Muppet-like monsters eager to nurture some perseverance and full of patience with Natalie's struggle and ultimate accomplishment. Natalie is on her way to reap the pleasures of learning to read, as seen in the endpapers, by authoring her own storybooks, a recognized strategy to foster beginning readers. Learning to read can be hard, and this book offers youngsters tackling the skill needed sympathy.
—Kirkus Reviews

The siblings’ spirited approach to literacy could also spark inspiration in children to create their own stories and not surrender to prickles and bird feet. An appealing read-aloud for those not quite ready to read on their own.
—School Library Journal

The screen-printed art balances Muppety chaos and sturdy order in the little monsters’ nursery lives, and the matte pages, clever limits on black linework (monsters are only softly lined in brown or self-colors), and goofy overbites keep the monsters looking approachable and friendly. Listeners will clamor to get their own stories put into books, making this an easy bridge to reading-friendly activities.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Natalie’s path to literacy is both fun and valid for other emergent readers.
—Booklist Online

From the Publisher

11/01/2018

PreS-Gr 1—Monster siblings Natalie and Alphonse are back. Natalie can't wait to read aloud to Alphonse. She gets her first beginner reading book about a cat. The letters all look like prickles and bird feet. Nothing interesting happens to that cat. It just sits. Natalie decides she doesn't like books anymore and doesn't need to read, ever. Instead, she will make up stories and tell them to Alphonse. He suggests that her story should be in a book with pictures. They draw the pictures, and Natalie dictates the story to their dad as he writes it down. Natalie can mostly read the book they'd written. Primary color and screen-printed illustrations depict the simple yet endearing monsterlike characters. Creative use of thick black lines adds detail and illustrates how Natalie sees letters as bird feet, squiggles, and scratches floating across the page. The thick lines also complement the bold kidlike font, creating child-pleasing typography. New readers will understand Natalie's frustrations. VERDICT The siblings' spirited approach to literacy could also spark inspiration in children to create their own stories and not surrender to prickles and bird feet. An appealing read-aloud for those not quite ready to read on their own.—Mindy Hiatt, Salt Lake County Library Services

School Library Journal

2018-09-30

Monster siblings Alphonse and Natalie (Alphonse, That Is Not OK to Do! 2016) return in a sympathetic story about learning to read.

Natalie is excited to go to school and to learn to read. She and her younger brother, Alphonse, love stories, both hearing them and telling them. But when the teacher hands Natalie her first primer, reading seems harder than expected, as "the letters and words looked like prickles or birds' feet." Despite the teacher's encouragement to sound out the words, Natalie is frustrated by the difficulty as well as the absence of a real story in this book about a cat that sits. Practicing eventually gives her mastery of this book, but when Alphonse asks Natalie to read aloud one of his books, the letters and words look "like scuttling insects with too many legs and eyes." Natalie declares, "I DO NOT LIKE BOOKS ANYMORE!" Instead, she decides to take care of her sick elephant, Sinéad, while making up her own more interesting story. Dad helps by writing the words to the pictures she draws with her brother, producing a homemade book she can read again and again. Bold, primary colors against white space create supportive scenes peopled by this lovable family of adorable, Muppet-like monsters eager to nurture some perseverance and full of patience with Natalie's struggle and ultimate accomplishment. Natalie is on her way to reap the pleasures of learning to read, as seen in the endpapers, by authoring her own storybooks, a recognized strategy to foster beginning readers.

Learning to read can be hard, and this book offers youngsters tackling the skill needed sympathy. (Picture book. 5-7)

Kirkus Reviews