Let’s Do Nothing! by Tony Fucile

Frankie and Sal have done it all: played every sport, painted pictures, baked cookies, played board games, and read every comic book.  So they decide to do something they have never done before!  Nothing!  They try again and again to do nothing at all, but it doesn’t work.  When they pretend to be statues, Sal has to swat away the pigeons.  When they think of themselves as trees, Sal imagines that Frankie’s dog pees on him.  When they are tall buildings, Sal is scaled by King Kong.  In the end, they decide that they have to start doing something after all because it is impossible to do nothing.

The common problem of boredom is paired here with a sense of humor.  The two boys imagine themselves as different things, but Sal always has his glasses even as a tree or building.  The King Kong sequence is especially funny as sharp-eyed readers will spot the hand of Kong even as Sal reassures Frankie that he is doing great.  The relationship between the two boys is also very well done.  The boys are different as can be but their friendship is never in jeopardy in the book.   It is a great and subtly delivered message behind the action.

A rousing read aloud for any bored child, this book will refresh long summer days filled with free time.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Lori Calabrese Writes.