Wrong Turn! We're in the Wrong Book! by Richard Byrne

BEN AND BELLA WERE JUMPING DOWN THE STREET, FROM ONE SIDE OF THE BOOK...

TO THE OTHER.

THEN BELLA'S DOG JOINED IN...

AND ACCIDENTALLY BUMPED THEM BOTH OFF THE PAGE!

Ben and Bella (and her rambunctious dog) from Richard Byrnes' recent hit, This book just ate my dog! (see review here) are back for more bibliographic fun, as the kids are dragged, from recto to verso, from their sack race right into a new setting, this time a counting book.

"WHERE ARE WE?" SAID BEN.

"WE'RE IN THE WRONG BOOK!" SAID BELLA.

It's hard enough to be a character in your own book, but with an energetic pooch on the loose, you might find yourself vanishing from your opening page, right through the gutter (where the pages are sewn together) and find yourself biblio-confused. Ben and Bella are literally dragged through a counting book right into a comic book. The two are clearly in a bit of a bind in a book about the library, where the librarian gives them an opening in a book on Egypt. But hieroglyphics are not their favorite subject, and from there they have a puzzling time in a book of mazes, stay longer than they like with a wolf in old lady clothes, fold a paper craft boat to float away, only to meet a monster bursting through the next page. If only things would take a (page) turn for the better!

In his latest "under cover" metafictional adventure, Richard Byrne's latest, We're in the wrong book! (Henry Holt and Company, 2015) has a lot of fun with the reader's dilemma--which one is the right book for me! Byrne's illustrations are pleasant, but his illustrations and text lack the clever metafictional wit of Mo Willems' We Are in a Book! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) or Herve Tullett's Help! We Need a Title! and Press Here.