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BookDragon Blog

24 Nov / The Good Little Book by Kyo Maclear, illustrated by Marion Arbona

Good Little Book by Kyo Maclear on BookDragonWinter is quickly settling around us … do you know where your favorite cuddle-up books are? Hopefully the ones you’ve loved again and again are out in the world spreading more love, which means you’ve got more room to add a few beloveds-to-be to your waiting shelves.

Consider this Good Little Book, because we all need reminders about the glee-inducing, happy-making power of regularly indulging in really, truly, magnificently good books.

“Once there was a good little book,” our inviting tale begins. “It had fine printed pages and a simple cover and a strong spine.” And indeed this does. Into the study in which the good book keeps literary company enters an angry boy sent to “think things over.” After exactly 12 seconds of cogitating, he pulls out the good little book and begins to read. Well … we all know what happens with a good little book, right? Oh, the joy, the joy: “It dazzled him and stumped him and made him laugh and gasp. He read it through. Then he turned back to the beginning and read it again.”

Boy and book embark on astonishing adventures … at least until (oh no!) the book goes missing. In spite of the boy’s worry, not all is lost. Because when a favorite something gets found – even if by someone else – the joy just spreads. And that’s what happens when the good little book gets discovered and read, again and again and again.

To hapa Canadian Kyo Maclear’s fantabulous fable, French Canadian artist Marion Arbona adds vibrant color, ticklish humor, and stupendous wonder. Before the story even begins, a nameplate with crossed-out monikers – Kyo and Marion included – surrounded by whimsical doodles on top of the flowered background sets a giggly, conspiratorial tone. Inside the shiny pages are sprightly surprises galore, from books wearing their own reviews (“Redolent of stinky socks”), to the best positions (hanging upside down to empower the brain) and places (beyond the bathroom, ahem) to read, to all the endless possibilities any and every book might release.

Brimming with wit, imagination, attitude, and oh-so-much-style, this good little book couldn’t be better … all you need to do is open up and read.

Readers: Children

Published: 2015

By Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race Tags > Adventure, BookDragon, Good Little Book, Kiddie fun, Kyo Maclear, Marion Arbona
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