It's a Book

Smith, L. (2010). It's a book. New York, New York: Roaring Brook Press.


It's a Book is a story with monkey and his book and donkey with his laptop. Technology is essential now a days, some people still enjoy the simplicities of the old days. Take Monkey for example with his book, donkey can't wrap his head around how to use a book. He wants to scroll, blog, and use a mouse. Monkey gets frustrated with donkey, but in the end donkey decides to give books a try.


Visual Elements: Shape
Shapes are used in this book to show who’s in charge. There are rectangles for the chairs both characters are sitting on. The books are also in form of rectangles. The monkey’s chair is bigger to express he is the wiser one.  Ovals are used for the heads of the characters, again the monkey is bigger to show he has a “bigger brain”. We can see circles when the donkey asks if he can make the characters fight to show the stars fighters see when they get hit. They can also be found on the clock as we see time flying by.

Evaluative Criteria: Style
This book has repetition when Monkey says “No, it’s a book”. He is trying to emphasize that a book is not technology. It contains onomatopoeia when Donkey asks Monkey if his book can go Tooooot. Monkey is trying to tell Donkey his book is nothing like his computer, but instead of being rude and using foul language, all he says is “No, it’s a book.” I like how the author uses character, plot, setting, and theme, to create a story that we can all relate too, but made it his own.