The Sunflower, The contortionist, The sleepwalker, The romantic are all ways you can read a book. You can read one in the tub, or if you are The Octopus you can read many at a time. But Timothee de Fombelle decided to show you 101 ways in 101 Ways to Read a Book. Each page has one or two ways of reading. There are readers on bikes and readers on the floor (there are about 10 different ways to do that). And each one is illustrated by Benjamin Chaud in simple, minimal colored and detailed images.
Humor and a bit of seriousness combine to make a not so adventurous adventure, but it does show you how you can have adventures in a book or reading that book. The overall feeling of things is poetic, but not in any way individual poems, or even one connected piece. The types of readers just are. Some may not be practical, but each one could give you ideas or at the very least, a few giggles.
Karin Snelson and Angus Yuen-Killick created a smooth translation. Sometimes I could feel that this was not originally Western, or at least not American, as there was a very old school feeling and look to things, but unlike some translations I have read, I had a smooth read. All ages could enjoy the book (the younger crowd might try a way or two; the older can start to read with help, and the middle group on their own) from about 5 to 8 or 9. Adults also would be a prime reading audience as well, so grab a gift for a child’s favorite teacher, caregiver or voracious reader.