I Am Not Boring: The True-Life Story of a Log

K-Gr 2–In a book that is anything but boring, the unseen narrator opens this tale explaining that the main character doesn’t do anything and the resulting story is going to be boring. The log becomes animated at that description and begins to argue the case that it is anything but humdrum. While it is true that the log doesn’t move until a bear comes by, it certainly moves when the bear begins to roll it over. It might not eat, but it is thrilled to show readers all the creatures that eat it. And while it stays in one place, it hosts all kinds of living creatures, including a ­family of skunks. When a conifer seed lands on top of it, it becomes a nurse log helping the sapling grow by providing nutrients as it decomposes. Colorful illustrations feature comic facial expressions as smelly skunks make their den inside and as the log, while stationary, makes its mark in the ecology of the forest. Readers will be anxious to go out into nature and find fallen logs to explore the impact they have on their local environment.