Juv Nonfiction: Book, My Autobiography "transcribed" by John Agard, illustrated by Neil Packer

Book: My Autobiography
John Agard, illustrated (b&w) by Neil Packer
ISBN: 9780763672362
Read March 7, 2016
Cute conceit of a thin book covering the history of the recorded word in print from the perspective of a book, looking back at the transformations of the past and present.

Lots of short chapters break up the history of the development of the written word.  We begin with oral storytelling and cave paintings, then move through the earliest surviving examples of physically-recorded information from several cultures.  Then we're into the developments of types of materials: rock walls to clay tablets to papyrus to parchment to paper pulp (a Chinese invention, which I did not know) and finally to modern e-books.  Then we look at styles of writing: cuneiform, hieroglyphics, the Phoenician, then Greek, then Latin alphabets (this section was sadly lacking in Eastern information), along with the writing process: wedge-shaped stylus to quills (with discussion of the various bird species and what their quills were considered good for) to the first block printing and then movable type and then again e-books with hyperlinks.

The "voice" of Book is wry and self-deprecatory and winking, passing information along as if it is just the coolest history in the world (which I personally agree with) and making even ancient history like the switch from papyrus to parchment seem relevant (caused, fyi, by a squabble over intellectual property (papyrus) which was barred from export out to a rival country).

The language is rich and varied and the presentation is quite adult - I had to check the CIP to see that it really was a juvenile nonfiction.  There are pull-out and pop quotes from authors and poets and influential people highlighted in almost every chapter that are relevant to the section, or are generally thought-provoking.  This would be an excellent "trial" biography for a young voracious nonfiction or micro-history reader - I can easily see them successfully reading through this and feeling empowered to move on to the very similar adult nonfiction or biographies.

A fun, quick, information-packed read, with a great narrative flow and a lovely narrative voice, with just enough black and white illustration and pop quotes to break up the many many many small chapters.