The Book in the Book in the Book by Julien Baer – NOT RECOMMENDED

The Book in the Book in the Book by Julien Baer and Illustrated by Simon Bailly. PICTURE BOOK. Holiday House, 2019. $19.  9780823442430

BUYING ADVISORY: EL(K-3) – NOT RECOMMENDED

AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW

Thomas goes on a vacation to the seaside with his family. When his parents take a nap, Thomas gets bored and goes exploring. There he finds a book and reads it. The book is a smaller book set inside the actual book you are reading. Its about Thomas, but this time his family has gone to the Alps, and when he wanders off, he finds yet another book. This time the book is a tiny book set inside the medium size book you were just reading. In it Thomas and his family go to outer space. Eventually his parents wake up and come looking for him.

I was excited to read this book, as I had fond memories of reading the tiny book that is inside of the classic Pat the Bunny books. But this one disappointed as it is the same exact story three times with only a different setting. Not only that, but the story is not that interesting, so reading it three times wasn’t that fun. I found myself wishing the story inside of a story thing had something magical about it, or it changed the other story, or the three together made some sort of convergent storyline. But it didn’t, so I wouldn’t spend money on this book for a library collection.

Reviewer: Stephanie MLS & Author