by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
First sentence: “Welcome to the first book that offers additional engagement via texting.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: It’s wonderfully interactive, with short vignettes rather than long passages. I’d give it to a middle- or high-schooler who expressed interest. There’s one swear word. It’s in the biography section of the bookstore.

I don’t even know where to start with this. Perhaps with it’s the most unique reading experience I’ve had in a long time. The basic gist is that Amy Krouse Rosenthal wrote this as a sequel (of sorts) to Encyclopedia of Me (but  you don’t have to read that one first). It’s a collection (of sorts) of thoughts, musings, Things That Happened, and insights into Amy’s life and mind. But it’s more than that.

Loosely laid out like an actual textbook, there are quizzes, math problems (radiant + redolent + gorgeous + melancholy + patina + rhapsody + calm = words I kept trying to find a home for in this book), Art, observations on Life (both Amy’s and Life in General). And perhaps it was a case of right book for me at the exact right time, but I found it to be charming, interesting, and quite lovely.

A suggestion: go in wanting to be an active participant in the book. Text the number. Follow the instructions. Click on the links. Submit your pictures (I still have one picture I need to submit before I am truly done). The book (and you) will be better for it.

This one is not just a book; it’s an experience. And a delightful one at that.