Hello, friends! Our book today is The Book of Rules, written by Brian Gehrlein and illustrated by Tom Knight, a hilarious interactive book that encourages little ones to get their sillies out.

Get ready readers, because this book is full of rules: rules for sitting, rules for making fish faces, rules for mooing like a cow. And you’d best follow these rules, or Dennis will make an appearance! Who is Dennis, you might ask? Oh, he’s the sharp-fanged, razor-clawed, weird-thing-on-his-foot-having monster tasked with finding those who don’t follow the rules… and eating them UP!

Delightful! Educators will be familiar with the concept of “shaking the sillies out” with groups of little ones; this book takes the concept and creates a narrative involving some very silly and/or soothing activities – such a silly faces, giving high fives, or taking deep breaths – and the “threat” of a giant purple monster named Dennis who nibbles on the noncompliant (the narrator and artwork makes it clear that Dennis, for all the threats of audience-consumption, is actually a friendly monster). A diverse cast of children in the illustrations demonstrate each activity, and colorful backgrounds and playful text complete the experience. The length is perfect for a storytime, and JJ loved interacting with the silly instructions, but the effect of this one would absolutely work best in groups. That said, this could be a novel way to help little ones shake their sillies out, and we loved it. Baby Bookworm approved!

(Note: A copy of this book was provided to The Baby Bookworm by the author in exchange for an honest review.)