The Very Hard Book by Idan Ben-Barak and Philip Bunting

Title: The Very Hard Book

Author: Idan Ben-Barak and Philip Bunting

Genre: Non-Fiction

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 30^th August 2022

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 32

Price: $24.99

Synopsis: A very silly book that will seriously get kids thinking from the award-winning and internationally bestselling author of Do Not Lick This Book and the award-winning and bestselling creator of Give Me Some Space.

Can you …

Forget this line?

Dig half a hole?

This book asks you to imagine and think about some things. That sounds easy, right? Anyone can think stuff. You don’t even need to be standing up. We shall see. Good luck.

Metacognition is the act of thinking about thinking and forms the basis of all critical thought. It is also a concept that comes easily to children whose inquisitive nature makes them a natural at engaging in abstract questions and open-ended thinking. The Very Hard Book starts that ‘thinking’ journey and has a great deal of fun in the process.

~*~

Over the past few months, many kids books, aimed at all ages, have been dealing with some of the themes and issues around mental health and anxiety. Whether it is something the characters go through or help someone else with, or books that address the issues and take readers through ways to cope, it is a theme that I find keeps coming up in various ways. The Very Hard Book by Idan Ben-Barak, and illustrated by Philip Bunting, is one of the latest in this sort of book. Yet instead of addressing the issue of anxiety head-on, it takes a different approach. Using a variety of statements and colour-blocked images in bright colours, the book asks you to imagine things – to slow down and think. Some of the questions might invite interactivity as you read the book with other people, with little ones who are constantly asking why – and this book can help them answer that question, whilst also building on their imagination and ability to create with their mind, their words, and the world around them, rather than relying on technology all the time.

The book promotes the act of inquisitive thinking – and allows readers of all ages, even if this book is aimed at four- to ten-year-olds, to allow themselves to think this way, to think like a child, and to filter out the invasive thoughts that can prevent us from being creative and inquisitive. It is the kind of book that, through silly and impossible tasks that I have no doubt some readers will absolutely try and have a ball doing it, prompts us to think about what we can do, what is achievable, and how we can do it.

Even though this book is aimed at younger readers, given the state of the world at the moment and over the past few years, I think it is a book that everyone can benefit from, to help them slow down a little. It allows us to imagine a bit of silliness – something we all need from time to time, and I think that this powerful and amusing book will start something fun, a revolution of fun for all, regardless of age, whoever you are. To find the fun in what you like, and what you want to do – and to find our way back to our inquisitive selves.