‘The Book With No Pictures’ By B.J. Novak Celebrates Tenth Consecutive Week at #1 on The New York Times Bestseller List
New York, NY — B.J. Novak’s ground-breaking new “picture book,” THE BOOK WITH NO PICTURES, will celebrate its tenth consecutive week at #1 on the New York Times children’s picture book bestseller list in the December 28th issue. The book, which released on September 30th, has quickly become one of the most acclaimed and requested books of 2014, with critics raving this “funny, creative, and smart” (Vanityfair.com), “riotously fresh take on breaking the fourth wall” (Kirkus Reviews) is “destined to be a classic” (Jezebel) and “will have little ones laughing and finding new appreciation for words” (Entertainment Weekly). There are currently more than 700,000 copies in print.
In 2015, The Book With No Pictures will appear on international bookshelves in 18 additional languages, including Chinese, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Basque, Catalan, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Polish, Hungarian, Turkish, Hebrew, and Luxembourgish.
THE BOOK WITH NO PICTURES (Dial Books for Young Readers; ages 3-7) turns the notion of the picture book on its head, by delivering a text-only story book for young children. Designed to make any reader into an extraordinary storyteller, this innovative and wildly funny read-aloud plays off the idea that everything written on the page has to be said by the person reading it aloud, even if the words say “BLORK” or “BLURFF”.
B.J. Novak was struck with the idea for the book last year when a friend’s son thrust a picture book into his hands and ordered him to read it. “There is something special and distinct about the time when a book is something that is read to you,” says B.J. “The whole idea of a book is still new and exciting, and the experience is about the bond between the adult and child just as much as it is between the child and the book. I thought it would be fun to find a twist on that experience: what if the book and the child “teamed up” to force the adult to say silly things? It could be a whole new way to introduce children to the idea of what a book can do.”
Over the past two months, Mr. Novak has read the book to thousands of children in schools and bookstores across the country. A Youtube videoof him reading the book at a charter school in Long Island City, NY has been viewed more than 2 million times.
B.J. Novak is widely known for his work on NBC’s Emmy Award-winning comedy series The Office as a writer, actor, director, and executive producer. He is also known for his work as a standup comedian and his performances in motion pictures such as Quentin Tarantino’s Academy Award nominated film Inglourious Basterds and Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks. He also recently starred on the last season of HBO’s Newsroom. Novak’s collection of short stories One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories (Knopf) was published earlier this year to rave reviews. The New York Times Book Review called it “Hugely pleasurable…droll and smart in spades, but often humane and vulnerable, too…” The Washington Postcalled Novak “a gifted observer of the human condition and a very funny writer capable of winning that rare thing: unselfconscious, insuppressible laughter.” He is a graduate of Harvard University with a degree in English and Spanish literature.
THE BOOK WITH NO PICTURES by B.J. Novak
Dial Books for Young Readers; ages 3-7; 978-0-8037-4171-3; $17.99
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