No Reading Allowed: The WORST Read-Aloud Book Ever

by Raj Haldar, Chris Carpenter, Bryce Gladfelter (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Raj Haldar and Chris Carpenter are back with another dose of hilarious hi-jinks (or is it high jinks?). Following up their bestselling P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever, No Reading Allowed gloriously lays out variations of classic English phrases and spellings. It's punny, preposterous and…perfect! Great for budding readers and adults navigating the alphabetic absurdity that is the English language.

From the #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling authors of P IS FOR PTERODACTYL comes another hilarious, fresh look at the English language!

"Those who love wordplay are the natural constituency for No Reading Allowed: The Worst Read-Aloud Book Ever, a picture book that's bright with comic scenes... [and] brilliant pairings of picture and word (and word with word)."—The Wall Street Journal

The hero had super vision.
The hero had supervision.

Man, a tea sounds great.
Manatee sounds great!

Sir Francis Bacon
Sir, France is bakin'!

What is going on here?!
You can't believe everything you hear! A single word can have many different meanings. And sometimes two words that sound alike can be spelled completely differently. Ptolemy the pterodactyl is back to show us all how absurd and fun language can be when homophones, homonyms, and tricky punctuation are at play!

No Reading Allowed allows children and their parents to laugh together while also learning something new. Perfect for baby gifts, birthday gifts, teacher gifts, and anyone who finds humor in the absurdity of the English language.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728206592
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	11/10/2020
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	26,042
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.30(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Better known by his stage name Lushlife, Raj Haldar is an American rapper, composer, and producer from Philadelphia, PA.

Chris Carpenter is a software developer for a tech startup in New York.

Editorial Reviews

"Those who love wordplay are the natural constituency for No Reading Allowed: The Worst Read-Aloud Book Ever, a picture book that's bright with comic scenes... [and] brilliant pairings of picture and word (and word with word)." - The Wall Street Journal

"If you're a logophile (=word nerd), grammar geek, or a bookworm, and especially, if you're a teacher or homeschooler, snag a copy of No Reading Allowed for yourself and a friend. This will be a hot holiday gift for us word nerd folks!" - Imagination Soup

"A really clever book that takes a humorous look at homophones, homonyms and the use of punctuation in each situation. Like their previous book, P Is for Pterodactyl, this book further expands upon the messiness of the English language through colorful and amusing illustrations." - Laughing Squid

"A whole lot of chaotic fun." - Buzzfeed

"The playful book has readers' minds darting in all directions." - Smithsonian Magazine, The Ten Best Children's Books of 2020

"Assuming you've spent the last two years coming to grips with the fact that the ABC's are a scam (if you haven't, take your time, it's a lot to process), you're ready to move onto this next volume of mandatory reading, No Reading Allowed... So to make sure you and yours are equipped for all the silly sound-the-same sentences out there, grab this super-serious manual and study it hard! Because what you think you heard there might just be that ewe herd, there." - Funny or Die

"Endlessly funny... Preposterous situations and farcical sound-alike sentences will elicit groans and giggles." - Kirkus Reviews

"There are no words to describe the sheer silliness of the homonyms and sound-alike sentences in No Reading Allowed. The punny awesomeness, made extra ridiculous by Bryce Gladfelter's absurd illustrations, makes it a perfect buddy book for bedtime." - The Virginian-Pilot

"From the creators of "P is for Pterodactyl" comes this playful look at homophones. Seven-year-olds will appreciate the funny difference a little change in spelling or punctuation can make." - Today.com

"A laugh-out-loud exploration of the absurd world of homonyms
" - Foreword Reviews

"This book contains whole homonymic sentences, and the result is sometimes quite funny, sometimes gross-out, but always entertaining." - Youth Services Book Review

"I loved the idea so much... The sentences are creative and funny, the illustrations are engaging and really bring the humor to life. It's a great way to introduce kids to new vocabulary and help motivate them towards more clear writing." - Motherhood Moment

"An awesome, funny teaching tool for children learning about homonyms." - Portland Book Review

"Perfect for book gifts for any occasion, both young and old will get a kick out of this." - Daily Mom

From the Publisher

2020-07-28
Homophones in versatile parallel sentences create absurd scenarios.

The pattern is simple but endlessly funny: Two sentences, each illustrated, sound the same but are differentiated by their use of homophones. On the verso of the opening spread a cartoon restaurant scene shows a diner lifting a plate of spaghetti and meatballs to a waiter who removes a dark hair from the plate of noodles: “The hair came forth.” (Both figures have brown skin.) Opposite, the scene shows a race with a tortoise at the finish line while a hare trails the tortoise, a snake, and a snail: “The hare came fourth.” The humorous line drawings feature an array of humans, animals, and monsters and provide support and context to the sentences, however bizarre they may seem. New vocabulary is constantly introduced, as is the idea that spelling and punctuation can alter meaning. Some pairings get quite sophisticated; others are rather forced. “The barred man looted the establishment. / The bard man luted the establishment” stretches the concept, paralleling barred with bard as adjectives and looted with luted as verbs. The former is an orange-jumpsuited White prisoner in a cell; the other, a brown-skinned musician strumming a lute for a racially diverse group of dancers. Poetic license may allow for luted, though the word lute is glaringly missing from the detailed glossary.

Preposterous situations and farcical sound-alike sentences will elicit groans and giggles. (Informational picture book. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

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