Review: Instructions

Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess have been collaborating on a series of children's books. I didn't know about them until I saw Instructions on the used books section of the library. For $2, I thought that it was a cheap risk.

While Bowen was happy to have me read to him when he was younger, Boen's always been a different story, never wanting to read books. Even when he was willing to read books, he'd prefer stuff like Monster Trucks. But as an experiment I read Instructions to him and he immediately asked to have me read it to him again!

Unlike many other children's books, there's no immediate morals, or even much of a story line that's fully fleshed out in this book. Mostly, it's hints of a story (fed by instructions), leaving the reader to tease out the characters and events through illustrations. Even for adults, this is intriguing and interesting. The language and artwork complement each other, and of course, it's a very short read (10 minutes max).

Recommended! I'll go look for other children's books by Gaiman and Vess.