How This Book Was Made
Common Sense says
- Mac Barnett
- Picture Book
- 2016
Parents say
Kids say
Searching for streaming and purchasing options ...
Common Sense is a nonprofit organization. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free.
Get it now on
Searching for streaming and purchasing options ...
Did this review miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive, diverse representations in books, TV shows, and movies. Want to help us help them? Suggest a diversity update
Suggest an update How This Book Was Made
A lot or a little?
The parents' guide to what's in this book.
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that How This Book Was Made by Mac Barnett and Adam Rex takes a very funny look at how a book is made, imparting real information and plenty of jokes -- some visual, some via the text -- in a hilarious mix. For kids absorbing the writing process, the book is reassuring and counsels patience, explaining that even successful writers write many, many drafts and have to work on revisions with their editors. Kids may be familiar with this idea from working on drafts and revisions with teachers and peer editors in school. The message is clear: Here's a peek at the process, and you can do this, too. Just beware of tigers and pirates. And don’t stress out by taking writing too seriously.
Stay up to date on new reviews.
User Reviews
- Parents say
- Kids say
There aren't any reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.
There aren't any reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.
What's the story?
HOW THIS BOOK WAS MADE breaks down the process of writing a book from initial idea to finished copies. The writer gets an idea, writes a first draft, and revises multiple times with the input of an editor who sends the finished manuscript to illustrator. The editor then sends the art and text overseas -- to Malaysia! -- to be printed, and the book is shipped back to the United States. And maybe, along the way, a tiger arm-wrestles the writer and pirates overrun the ship, searching for treasure. Alas, they find no booty, just books, and pirates don't read. But finally the book arrives in the hands of you -- the reader! And that's what makes it a book!
Is it any good?
For kids curious about how a book is made, this sets the record straight, taking the reader from idea to finished book, delivering real information and serious laughs -- tigers! pirates! -- in equal measure. In How This Book Was Made, practiced comedy duo Barnett and Rex know when to let the art deliver the punch line. When the text says, "Ideas can come at funny times," we see Barnett arm-wrestling a tiger, who returns strategically throughout the story. And if comedy genius isn't enough, these two also hit their emotional mark, directly involving the reader at the end by making the point that a book isn't a book until it has a reader: "And then you came along." Awww.
Talk to your kids about ...
Families can talk about how a book is really made vs. the process in How This Book Was Made. Which details are real, and which are included for humor? Which are both real and funny?
The book says, "Ideas can come at funny times." How and when do you get ideas?
The author says he wrote 21 drafts of this story. Do you ever work with someone who helps you refine and rewrite your ideas, the way an editor does? Are those ideas helpful to you or not?
Book details
- Author: Mac Barnett
- Illustrator: Adam Rex
- Genre: Picture Book
- Topics: Adventures, Arts and Dance, Book Characters, Pirates, Wild Animals
- Book type: Non-Fiction
- Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
- Publication date: September 6, 2016
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 4 - 8
- Number of pages: 48
- Available on: Hardback
- Last updated: July 13, 2017
Our editors recommend
Themes & Topics
Top advice and articles
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.