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CompleteMartialArts.com - Not a Box

List Price: $12.99
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Manufacturer: HarperCollins

Average Customer Rating:

Manufacturer Maximum Age: 6
Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780061123221
ISBN: 0061123226
Label: HarperCollins
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 32
Publication Date: 2006-12-01
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reading Level: Baby-Preschool
Release Date: 2006-12-12
Studio: HarperCollins

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Editorial Reviews:

A box is just a box . . . unless it's not a box. From mountain to rocket ship, a small rabbit shows that a box will go as far as the imagination allows.

Inspired by a memory of sitting in a box on her driveway with her sister, Antoinette Portis captures the thrill when pretend feels so real that it actually becomes real—when the imagination takes over and inside a cardboard box, a child is transported to a world where anything is possible.

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: SIMPLE YET WONDERFUL
Comment: I bought this book for both my daughter and a cousin. The cover is what intrigued me the most, and the book description sounded so cute and true of a childs imagination. The illustrations are so simple and not overdone as some childrens books can be. There isn't too much story to where the child gets bored. Very cute. Would definately purchase this book again for any child!

Customer Rating:

Summary: Not a bad book
Comment: You know how young children will sometimes receive a super amazing fantastic gift and proceed to derive much more enjoyment from the cardboard box the gift came in? Well, according to Antoinette Portis' 2006 book Not a Box, young rabbits do that to. (So do cats, but that is neither here nor there.)

There are a lot of reasons I enjoy this book, the first of which is because of its design. The book looks like a box (even though it's not). The cover is made of brown-cardboard-feeling paper. The weight (11.5 ounces) is clearly marked on the front, while the back notes which side is up. The cardboard theme understandably continues in the book's interior.

The structure is the same throughout, so I'm just going to go through the first one:

Brown lefthand page reading: "Why are you sitting in a box?"

Righthand page: black and white drawing of a young rabbit sitting in a box.

Turn the page.

Red lefthand page: "It's not a box."

Righthand page: color (red, black, yellow and white) illustration of the young rabbit driving a race car.

The same scenario is repeated several times until the clever ending.

At first I had thought that this book would be a hard sell for a read-aloud because, well, there isn't a lot to read. However, after discussing the book with "Tori" I came to a different conclusion. Tori suggested that the book would work better in a more non-traditional storytime where the kids get in on the act. Ask the kids what they see in each picture, let them describe the story. If the children are older, you could also ask them to find the "original" box in each of the rabbits imagined scenarios.

The book would also work well in a one-on-one reading between parents and their own children, which is the scenario I had initially imagined for this book. I like the story because it's simple with nice drawings that children can clearly interpret thanks to the thick lines and limited palette. Also, since most children do enjoy a good cardboard box, it's likely that they'll be intrigued by the rabbit's scenarios and perhaps find ideas for their own playtime.

I'm not the only one that enjoyed this book. In 2007, Not a Box was selected as a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book. The award was established in 2006 for the author and illustrator who annually make "the most distinguished contribution to beginning reader books."

The fun continues in with a piglet in Not a Stick.

Customer Rating:

Summary: the perfect children's book?
Comment: NOT A BOX
by Antoinette Portis

Parents often joke about how little kids think that "the box is more fun than the toy"... and this book explains why kids are right! Where others see a box, the imaginative little bunny sees a fire engine, a house or a boat! That's not a box, it is whatever you want it to be. Less is certainly more here, and I think most parents can appreciate the message about the power of creativity. This is such a great book! Highly Recommended!

Customer Rating:

Summary: Not A Box- Instant classic
Comment: This book is so amazingly simple...and I think that is the beauty of it. I found this accidentally at the library, brought it home and my 3 year old fell in love with it. He loves to read books, but I find that anything overly illustrated and long does not seem to hold his attention very long. This is the first book that he picked up and "read" by himself and then to me. He gets up in the morning and picks it up again. An instant classic!!! Bravo Antoinette!!

Customer Rating:

Summary: A child's imagination
Comment: As a children's book author it's always a daunting task to think like a child. 'Not a Box' is a take on the children's imagination. I think just about everyone played with boxes as a child. The pure imaginations could turn a simple box into anything they want it to be. I smiled reading this book reminiscing that there was a time when a box was not just a box. I remember when I was young; our family bought a new refrigerator that came in a gigantic box. That box was the greatest thing ever. It's also sad that as the life becomes complex a simple box becomes nothing more than a box.

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