PICTURE BOOKS

The Book Machine: A Story About the Magic of Books

by Laurie Duersch (text) & illus. by Susanna Covelli
Familius. Jul. 2026. 32p. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9798893960488. K-Gr 2
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K-Gr 2–An ungendered first-person narrator with brown hair, white skin, and red glasses builds a rudimentary cardboard-and-tape book-making machine to satisfy a growing curiosity over how books are made. This is an elaborate setup that results in no books. Then the child figures out a way to tell a story about dragons, princesses, and swords, a tale that is illustrated in monochrome to separate it from the rest of the book. The child realizes that the so-called book machine lives within us all—as ­storytelling. With all the truly magical books available about the blessings of stories and books, this one by Duersch (Starlight) and ­Covelli (Over in the Woodland) is a little on the nose; it’s obvious from the outset that it will be much ado about very little.
VERDICT A lot of high jinks and not much reward.
Reviewed by Kimberly Olson Fakih , Dec 01, 2025

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