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| Creator: Antoinette Portis
Publisher: HarperCollins
Category: Book
List Price: $12.99
Buy New: $7.11
You Save: $5.88 (45%)
New (44) Used (13) Collectible (1) from $7.11
Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 1394
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Baby-Preschool
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 32
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 9.1 x 0.3
MPN: 978-0-06-1123221
ISBN: 0061123226
EAN: 9780061123221
ASIN: 0061123226
Publication Date: December 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New Book direct from the publisher. Ships from New York within one week. Returns accepted. Satisfaction guarantee.
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| Customer Reviews:
my not a box! February 28, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Little Rabbit loves his box! He makes the box into all sorts of things! Some of those things are a rocket ship, a robot anda mountain! Now if he can just get the adults to see that it's NOT A BOX things will be ok!
The book looked and felt like a real cardboard box!
Yes. Kids love boxes and they will be able to relate to the little rabbit character well!
A Delightful Not-A-Box! February 2, 2007
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
I remember the lure of a box, especially those wonderfully long refridgerator sized boxes. This book evokes that magic of the imagination. Even the cover of the book mimics it. It is brown paper with no dust jacket, on the front it proclaims in weight in oz. On the back a red arrow points out "this end up".
Inside is a classic story. A bunny with a box (or as learned by the end, the bunny's "not-a-box") and a powerful imagination. Each page the bunny is asked what he is doing with the box and he always replies it is "not a box" and the reader gets a visual explaination of what the bunny is doing. Climbing a mountain--instead of standing ontop of a box.
This book is a treasure and would be great to read outloud to a group of younger kids.
Charming and imaginative February 1, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a delightful book- unique and refreshing in its simplicity. Each page features a question, asked by the narrator of the bunny, eg "Why are you standing on that box?" My 3-year old son loves to shout out the answer, "It's NOT a box" and then describe the imaginative illustration of what the box IS.
Not to be superficial, but I Love the fact that the cover is rough brown paper, remniscent of a cardboard box.
Highly recommended. Also because of it's individuality and 'designerly' quality, this would make a great gift.
Whatta Box January 29, 2007
57 out of 61 found this review helpful
Recently there was an article in Publisher's Weekly describing the recent downturn in picture book sales and what publishing companies were going to do to combat this trend. Possible solutions that were mentioned included making picture books as sparkly, glittery, and full of eye-catching razzle dazzle-ish as possible. No mention was made of whether the stories matching these bombastic visual monstrosities would be any good. So after hearing a story like this it does my withered little heart good to know that there is still room out there for a book like, "Not a Box". "Not a Box" is not flashy. It doesn't seduce the child's visual senses with tacky holographic papered stimuli. Drawn with meticulous care and simple imagery, author Antoinette Portis's book is a sublime joy to both look at and to read. In an age where books have to be either sporting their own personal lighting system or go for the gross-out jokes to get attention, make some room in your home for this small, unassuming delight.
As the story opens and the reader flips through the publication and title page, a small bunny spots and tugs away a box that it has found. Now we see the bunny sitting quietly within his treasure as someone (perhaps the reader) asks, "Why are sitting in a box?" A turn of the page and it's the same bunny in the same box, but now red lines have appeared around them to sketch out a fabulous racing car. The opposite page is now bright red and at the bottom of it sit the words, "It's not a box." Turn the page and now the bunny is standing on top of the box. When asked why, the red lines have turned the box into an alpine peak with the bunny at the crest of the summit. "It's not a box." And so it goes until the reader finally asks of the bunny (with, perhaps, a note of impatience in the question), "Well, what is it then?" The bunny ponders this, in the same position as Rodin's, "The Thinker", then comes up with a fabulous answer. As we see it blasting off into space it waves good-bye from its rocket-box to say, "It's my Not-a-Box!" The last image is of a distant bunny soaring past the planet Saturn.
Who amongst us was enamored of cardboard boxes when they were young? Yeah, exactly. All of us. This book brought to mind those old Peanuts comic strips where Snoopy would sit on top of his doghouse and become a WWI Flying Ace. It's that same thought of taking the familiar and giving it that added twist of imagination to make it fantastic. More impressive is the fact that the readership for this book is vast. Both kids who can read on their own and the youngest of children will be able to understand the sense of play going on here. Plus, and I can't stress this enough, there's a kind of child-friendly wit at work here. Kids will get the joke of the bunny (who's sexless state allows it to be either a boy or a girl depending on the reader) that continually contradicts the person asking it these seemingly inane questions.
As for the art, Portis's style is so simple that it brings to mind the work of Netherlands' artist Dick Bruna (creator of Miffy). Thick black or red lines make each and every image completely understandable to young readers. The text is also simple and spare enough that no lengthy explanations are required. Fans of good design will applaud Portis's sense of clean lines and meticulous colors. Only three colors ever really make it into the book: red, light brown, and a light cream. And while I would not have plucked those three as ideal picture book mates myself, here they work together in a kind of perfect little syncopation.
Recently someone asked me to recommend picture books with simple words that also had a heart to them. This kind of a request is less easy than it sounds, and I had to admit to being a little bit stumped. That is, until I chanced upon "Not a Box". Consider this the quiet, funny, unassuming antidote to the crass world of marketing out there. A classic.
Have a Box Handy! January 16, 2007
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
The little bunny has something that looks a lot like a box. It is for sitting in, standing on, squirting, wearing, and more. Whatever this rectangular thing is, it is Not A Box!
The magic of cardboard in encapsulated in this cute little book. From the cardboard cover to the simple colors and drawings, the simplicity of imaginary play will delight small children everywhere.
But Parents Beware! It is absolutely essential to have an empty cardboard box on hand when you go to read this book, for your child will want an adventure of her/his own.
Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
01/16/2007
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