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The Book That No One Wanted to Read

Author Richard Ayoade

Illustrated by Tor Freeman

Hardcover

$17.99 US

Candlewick | Walker Books US

6.38"W x 9.31"H x 0.73"D | 18 oz | 26 per carton

On sale Mar 14, 2023 | 128 Pages | 9781536222166

Age 10-14 years | Grades 5-9

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Children's > Fiction

From actor-author-broadcaster-comedian-filmmaker Richard Ayoade comes a book narrated by . . . a book. Quirky, smart, and genre-busting, this is the saga of a book that nobody wants to read—until the day it meets YOU.

The life of a book isn’t easy, especially when people judge you by your cover (not every book can be adorned with sparkly unicorns!). And this narrator should know—it’s the book itself, and it has a lot of opinions. It gets irritated when readers bend its pages back, and it finds authors quite annoying. But it does have a story to tell. Through witty direct address and charming illustrations, readers meet a book that has never been read, with a cover the boring color of a school lunch table and pages so dry they give bookworms indigestion. But what happens when this book meets you, a curious reader? Multitalented author Richard Ayoade and award-winning illustrator Tor Freeman bring to life a hilariously subversive take on the nature of books and reading, with a heartening theme of finding the courage to tell our own stories. Readers of all ages will be delighted by the myriad bookish references and laughs on every page.

SELECTION | 2024
Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year
SELECTION | 2023
Junior Library Guild Selection
SELECTION | 2023
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year

Claiming to be the first book that has ever written itself, this titular tome delivers a series of grievances to a “bookist” reader—from “Things That Grate My Gears” (“3. People who skip to the end. If the end was meant to come sooner, it’d be called ‘the middle.’”) to the shocking revelation that unwanted books are murdered (which is to say “pulped,” like a smoothie) and then recycled into toilet paper. . . Could well leave even confirmed nonreaders tempted to turn over a new leaf.
—Booklist (starred review)

British performer Ayoade kicks off this telling with a P.G. Wodehouse epigraph, setting the tone for a jocose metafictional narrative told from a book’s point of view. . . an idiosyncratically charming read.
—Publishers Weekly

British actor, comedian, and filmmaker Richard Ayoade, known for his role in the show The IT Crowd, has whimsically highlighted how to choose and care for a book. . . . This title provides a quirky look at the quandary of getting lost in a library and forming amusing observations about bookworms. . . adorable, silly, and short. . . book lovers will feel seen.
—School Library Connection

Richard Ayoade is a much-loved comedian, BAFTA-winning actor (The IT Crowd), writer, director, and TV presenter (the 2021 BAFTAS, Have I Got News for You?, Travel Man) as well as a bibliophile. He regularly appears on comedy shows, was the voice of Zero in The Mandalorian, and directed the films Submarine and The Double. He has written three books on film for adults. This is his debut children’s book.

Tor Freeman graduated from Kingston University with a BA in illustration and has worked as an illustrator, author, and comics-maker ever since. She is the illustrator and creator of many children's books and comic strips, including The Toucan Brothers, the Olive series, and Welcome to Oddleigh. She was a Sendak Fellow and received a Jonathan Cape/Observer/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize. Tor Freeman lives and works in London.