About the Author

Adam Lehrhaupt’s first picture book, Warning: Do Not Open This Book!, received the E.B. White Read Aloud Honor Award, was an ALA Notable Book, and a HuffPost Notable Book. School Library Journal called it, “More fun than a barrel of monkeys.” He is also the author of Please, Open This Book!, which was named a Wanda Gag Comstock Read Aloud Honor Book, and Idea Jar. Adam has traveled to six continents, performed on Broadway, and lived on a communal farm. He currently lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with his wife, sons, and two bizarre dogs. Visit him online at AdamLehrhaupt.com.

Matthew Forsythe is the author-illustrator of Pokko and the Drum, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, a recipient of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor, and a Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book. He is also an illustrator for animated films and television. His credits include Adventure Time, The Midnight Gospel, and Robin Robin, a stop-motion animated musical from Aardman Animations and Netflix. Visit him at ComingUpforAir.net.

Reviews

As the manic animals from Warning! Do Not Open This Book! (2013) return, now exhorting readers not to close the book. A monkey with a lantern illuminating ink-black pages rejoices: "You opened the book. We're saved!" Illustrating many of the terrible things that can happen when a book is closed, Forsythe produces an alligator in a cast, a toucan with a bandaged beak, and a frightened lemur peeking from a box. A battered banana is proffered as further evidence. Stalling readers from reaching the book's end, the narrator offers to change the story. "We'll write something with a hero and heroine. You'll like it. It will be a good story!" Amusingly, the earth-toned, digitally composed illustrations depict a gorilla hunkered over a typewriter; strewn about are drafts whose only word is "banana." More bribes (that banana, now half-eaten) naturally won't deter readers from turning the pages. The panicky monkey laments: "One more page and… // THIS BOOK WILL BE // …CLOSED!" This anguished word winds up on the back cover, with small-print instructions: "You can fix this. Flip it over and…." The metafictive silliness will require the suspension of disbelief: if a closed book could hurt its characters, wouldn't a page turn inflict some minor injury?
*August 1, 2015*

InWarning: Do Not Open This Book! Lehrhaupt begged readers not to allow theanimals in that book to escape; now, the animals plead with children to leavethis book open, so they aren’t trapped inside. Lehrhaupt’s humor is sharperthis time around, even edgy—a toucan and gator wear bandages, suggesting thatshutting a book doesn’t just trap characters, it injures them. Set againstblack backgrounds, Forsythe’s digital artwork is equally attuned to theslightly sadistic mood. As book’s end approaches, he delivers an extremeclose-up of a dewy-eyed monkey making its desperate plea to readers: “We’ll begood. Promise.”
*September 28, 2015*

Recepient of the 2016 Wanda Gág Read Aloud Book Award