Please Open This Book! by Adam Lehrhaupt
This book was suggested to me as a great storytime read and I have to agree! The book starts by breaking the fourth wall with cartoon animals in the book thanking you for opening the book. They have bandages on demonstrating the side effects of what happened the last time the book was closed on them. Their gratitude quickly turns into horror as they realize that with each page turn the reader will eventually close the book on them again and they begin to plea that you won’t…but of course we all know how this ends.
The story is written with comedic dramatics and illustrated with equally as such. The book is fast to read through and gets funnier with every page. We’ve all seen this don’t-keep-turning-the-pages routine in some children’s literature, but this book uses it in a way that is especially cute.
This book can be used for a various age range. It is a very quick read and makes the
readers think of books as an item and not simply a story, and therefore must be old enough to grasp this concept. My estimate would be about preschool to possibly second grade.
Bibliography
Lehrhaupt, A., & Forsythe, M. (2015). Please, Open This Book! (Illustrated ed.). Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books.
Shelf Adulation 