A monkey is reading a book when his friend, the jackass, inquires about what he is doing. The jackass is curious about what this book is capable of doing, as if he has never seen one before. The jackass has obviously spent a lot of time on the computer because he asks the monkey how you "scroll down" or if you can "blog" on it. Each one of these questions gets the same answer of "No, it's a book" from the monkey. Annoyed, the monkey finally lets the jackass explore the book for himself. The book ends with the jackass saying that he will recharge the book when he is done and a little mouse comes out from the monkey's hat and says "you don't have to…it's a book, jackass."I thought this book was a cute, clever, and simple way of approaching the issue of children (and people in general for that matter) becoming disconnected from literature and spending most of their time online. While valuable information can be found online, nothing compares to holding the real deal in your hands. I think I could use this book in the future to try to get my students excited and curious about reading books. For some reason, I think kids get so excited about the use of a "bad word" in the classroom. I think older kids like 5th grade and up could be a little more mature about the use of the word "jackass." Sometimes kids are excited by the fact that their teacher is trusting them to be mature about something. It makes them feel grown up! I thought this book was a great way to show how technology is affecting how children react to books. If children saw more adults reading rather than always on technology it would great effect how they felt about it. Displaying it with cute pictures also made it not so pushy but rather made it more relatable. The jokes in the book were also funny for not just children but also for adults. In the end it also gave students a place where they could find new books without throwing it in their faces. I feel I can use this book as reflection and a reminder on how important it is for us as teachers to keep up on reading not just for ourselves but for the children as well. As teachers we need to be educated and use technology but not rely on it. It’s a simple book but it really has such a deeper meaning for both students and teachers.
What do You think about It's A Book (2010)?
This book was very funny. There was a play on words at the that could be inappropriate for children.
—micheles
One of the funnest books I've ever read with my daughter.
—tjk
