This Book Is Banned

Haldar and Patton employ absurdist hijinks to explore the practice of book banning in this admonishing volume. "Didn't you read the title before you decided to open this book?! It's banned," begins pointed first-person narration, which goes on to tell how the title got to this place. It all begins with hippos' petty complaint over giraffes "getting all the leaves for themselves," which results in both being removed from the story. When the increasingly self-censoring narrator attempts various replacement subjects--a bed, a roller-skating robot, a birthday party, unicorns--each proves to be too contentious for inclusion ("Some people think dinosaurs are make believe? That's silly, but all right"). By story's end, readers will likely have had at least one beloved subject ousted--potentially prompting conversation about real-world events that prefatory remarks establish as "downright dangerous." Patton's draft-like renderings rely on pencil, collage, and digital techniques to emphasize the tale's work-in-progress vibe. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

""The adult-child combination who reads This Book Is Banned together will have fun discussing the issue of "banning" in the hypothetical, thanks to the busy and engaging illustrations and text that await them. Young children will want you to read it to them over and over again... Strongly reminiscent of The Monster at the End of This Book." —" — NY Journal of Books