Module 1: How This Book Was Made by Mac Barnett and Adam Rex

Citation:

Barnett, M., & Rex, A. (2016). How this book was made: based on a true story. Los Angeles: Disney Hyperion.

Summary:

This is a book whose title tells you what it is, but not all it is. It is a book about the process of writing and publishing a book. The book goes through the long process with lighthearted jokes and a lot of fantastical adventure (like arm wrestling tigers) added to it.

My thoughts:

I adored this book. Such a fun way to teach about books and the writing process. The illustrations really add to the book and the author’s every little  detail of the process, some of which I do not really even think about, really make the story come alive. I read this book and immediately thought I needed to tell my niece about it.

Professional Reviews:

            “Barnett and Rex, no strangers to metafiction (Chloe and the Lion), have outdone themselves in terms of tongue-in-cheekiness as they describe the process of creating a book. "Ideas can come at funny times," muses Barnett, shown as a cartoon character arm-wrestling a tiger. It only gets wackier from there, as the book that Mac is developing takes quite a journey. First there's the back-and-forth among Barnett, Rex, and their editor in the pre-publication phase. Later, once it's been printed, the volume encounters book-stealing pirates, opportunistic eagles, a toad, and a poker-playing dog before it finally reaches its destination. "Because a book isn't a book, not really," observes Barnett, "until it has a reader." Rex's multidimensional art is, as usual, full of detail and sly visual humor. When Barnett describes sending his manuscript to their editor ("She is like a teacher, only she works in a skyscraper and is always eating fancy lunches"), Rex depicts her sitting at a table on a terrace high up in the Chrysler Building, wearing a tiara and lifting a delicate-looking pink rose to her mouth. Readers will get a kick out of numerous Easter eggs: for example, the aforementioned tiger shows up at several key moments, and check out those endpapers. And while it may perhaps go a bit long for some adult readers-aloud, young audience members will love every over-the-top moment.”

            Bloom, S. (2016). How This Book Was Made: Based on a True Story. Horn Book Magazine, 92(4), 110.

How To Use This Book In a Library:

            There are several ways this book could be used in a library. My favorite idea would be a program on the making of books at the end of a writer’s workshop series for children would be excellent. The librarian could use the book to discuss how to turn an idea into a story, and a story into a book, then how to share the book with the world. This would be a fun way to end that process.