The book with no pictures

In an age where visual communication is predominant, finding a book with a white cover and simple black writing is strange. Very strange.
No pictures in the entire book! Not even an emoticon. Yes, because even the short messages with which we communicate daily in messaging applications are dotted with smileys, flowers, hearts, hands. Tiny figures used to convey emotions, sensations, sometimes repeated two, three, even ten times to reinforce our message.
Instead in “The book with no pictures”: nothing. Only words. Words that sometimes become noises and invented sounds – and that’s it: nothing else is needed, except someone to read it and bring it to life.

Thus B.J. Novak, an American actor with great stage and comic talent, writes a book that at first glance is silent and empty. To light it up, fill it, animate it, you need a child – if there are several of them, even better – plus an adult who takes the time to sit down and read aloud everything, absolutely everything, that is written. And something, you can be sure, will happen. Everything that a sound can suggest to the fervent imagination of children who in this case are not tied to images chosen by adults…

It is at this point that the magic happens that only the sound of children’s laughter and that of adults who get involved can generate. The barriers are broken down to the point of reaching the funny or, why not? Even the ridiculous!
And when the book ends, the request that comes loudly is: “Again!“.

Author: Anna Lacci is a scientific popularizer and expert in environmental education and sustainability and in territory teaching. She is the author of documentaries and naturalistic books, notebooks and interdisciplinary teaching aids, and multimedia information materials.

Translation by Maria Antonietta Sessa