Books & Literature

Book Review: The Book That Did Not Want to Be Read, by David Sundin, illustrated by Alexis Homqvist, translated by BJ Woodstein

ACTIVITY BOOKS: The bestselling Swedish children’s book of 2020, translated by B. J. Woodstein, with graphic design by Alexis Holmqvist

A challenging read and a book to have some fun with.
5

While this is David Sundin’s first children’s book, he is already a renowned wordsmith in his native Sweden as an actor, screenwriter, comedian and winner of a silver medal in Swedish Championship of Puns. The book was a runaway success when first published in 2020 and is now available in English.

The hardback edition is an absolute delight in terms of design and illustrations. Alexis Holmqvist is a graphic designer as well as an illustrator and uses vintage images throughout the book, with a limited palette of red and blue which is very effective. The end papers look like a bizarre version of Victorian wallpaper, complete with spiders, barbed wire and snakes. In fact, the only modern image in the book (no spoilers) is used to, once again, make the adult reader look silly. It actually is quite a difficult book to read and will have everyone laughing out loud.

The moss green cover with gold embossed text and images warns the reader not to open the book and to go away. If one persists, then the book will become a steering wheel, the text will shrink and then expand, burst into flames, and all the A’s will change into O’s which is, “Trogic. Reolly trogic.” These are just a few of the book’s tricks.

This is a book that, despite the title, deserves to be read—preferably by grownups who are prepared to make fools of themselves and look like idiots as they make the appropriate noises, turn the book through 360 degrees to be able to read the text, and think on their feet as the words of the story begin to disappear!

Reviewed by Jan Kershaw

This review is the opinion of the reviewer and not Glam Adelaide.

Distributed by: Penguin Books Australia
Released: November 2021
RRP: $24.99

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