Some of the early versions of the book were a little slow to start. I did take a few pages out from the beginning for rhythm. When it says, “I am a monkey,” the words are orange. When something is really silly, the words take on a brighter color and a much bigger size. There seemed to be something explosive and innocent at the same time about silly words that started with a b. I don’t know why, but b sounds came out as the music of the book. Novak: Those came pretty naturally on day one. Rothenberg Gritz: How much editing do you go through for a book like this? Did you have to try out lots of different nonsense sounds before you came up with phrases like boo-boo butt and ba-doongy-face? It’s a rebellious, joyous book just for me.”Ĭlick to enlarge (Courtesy of Dial Books for Young Readers/Penguin) This guy isn’t trying to teach me anything. Seuss’s educational accolades, every kid sees what he’s doing and knows, “This guy is Team Kid.

That’s what really got me interested in reading. Novak: That’s true! The books I loved as a child all had one thing in common: They were very fundamentally on the side of the kid. Rothenberg Gritz: Maybe you also feel like you can be more irreverent than a parent might be. But for now, maybe I’m more interested in having all kids as my audience. Rothenberg Gritz: Some of the best children’s book writers never had kids themselves. Working backwards, I realized that if there were no pictures, it would be an even more delightful trick: The kid is taking a grown-up style book and using it against the grown-up. If the adult had to say silly things, I knew the kid would feel very powerful and would feel that books are very powerful. Please perform for my enjoyment.” I thought the funniest thing in that situation would be for me to have to say things I don’t want to say-things that the kid is making me say. This kid was handing me a script: “Here are your lines tonight. The actor in me started to realize that there was something very funny about the whole experience. Seuss, any Mo Willems?” The books I loved as a child all had one thing in common: They were very fundamentally on the side of the kid. So any time I’m at friend’s house with kids, I always selfishly ask, “Can I read your kid a book? Do you have any Dr. It’s so validating-you know there’s no such thing as the polite laughter of a child.

Novak: Like many comedians and comedy writers, I really love getting a kid to laugh. What made you want to write a book for preschoolers?ī.J.

Jennie Rothenberg Gritz: You don’t have any kids yourself.

The book with no pictures by bj novak