Books About Creativity: Not a Box

There are many books about creativity and the act or practice of being creative out there. Many are amazing, like basically anything Peter Reynolds touches, and some are...meh.  This one is definitely not "meh" but one you might be inclined to pass over because of its bland cover with black and white line art.

Don't do that.

Author Antoinette Portis cuts to the chase in her Theodore Seuss Geissel Honor Award-winning book, "Not a Box". She isn't terribly wordy and her pictures aren't particularly ornate or colorful. What she is is, brilliant. In simple text and pictures, she captures exactly what it's like to let your mind race and imagine wonderful things and adventures with an ordinary box.

As a child who was not able to get the latest gizmos and gadgets, and one that spent an inordinate amount of time outside in the woods and streams and mud and dirt, My siblings and I made stuff using sticks and discarded lumber and whatever else we could find. I can identify.

When the library media specialist at the school where I work read this to the class I was with, I was immediately taken back to my childhood. The best part though was watching the students lean forward a little more, big smiles on their faces and sparkles in their eyes, and cheer about the many different things that a box can be.

This is definitely a keeper. For more fun with being creative get her other book, Not a Stick, and let your child's mind roam free.

Content: 5/5
Illustrations: 5/5
Concept: 5/5
Quality: 5/5
Price: 5/5


Author/Illustrator: Antoinette Portis
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 32
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061123226
ISBN-13: 978-0061123221
Date: 2006
Publisher: HarperCollins; Illustrated edition (December 12, 2006)
Price: $15.49 (at the time of this post)


Where to buy: Amazon

You can buy "Not a Stick" at Amazon too. It's just as great a book except for this time it's, well. a stick.