Smith’s cartoon illustrations show Jackass and Monkey sitting in armchairs across from each other, Jackass with his laptop and Monkey with his book. In a text told in dialogue, Jackass, who has never seen a book before, peppers Monkey with question after question about what it does (“Can it text? Tweet? Wi-Fi?”) and how it works (“Does it need a password? Need a screen name?”). Exasperated, Monkey finally resorts to reading a passage of Treasure Island aloud. Jackass gets drawn into the story and asks to read it, promising to re-charge it when he’s finished. Monkey’s parting words (“It’s a book, Jackass.”) have raised some adult eyebrows, but it is the character’s name, and the author has made it pretty clear from the beginning that he doesn’t think much of the story’s antagonist. (Ages 5–8)

Amazon #1,421 (4/2011) Traditional Chinese edition of Caldecott Honor award winner and Pixar animation-artist Lane Smith's latest picture book IT'S A BOOK. A delightful and original work in the midst of the ongoing debate of print versus digital through humorous and silly questions from an IT-savvy donkey and a book lover monkey's simple answers, the monkey sees the value of a printed book. New York Times bestseller! Lane Smith is awarded the Caldecott Honor for The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. In Traditional Chinese. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.