Book! Book! Book! - Softcover

Deborah Bruss is the author of the children's title, Book! Book! Book!, published by Arthur A. Levine Books. Bruss' work as an author has only been a relatively recent phenomenon. As a child, Bruss did not enjoy writing, and even attempted to avoid writing-intensive classes in high school. She did not overcome her fear of writing until she reached college and began her career as an author when she was in her thirties. She began writing in an attempt to interest her first grade son in books. Bruss wrote an adventure story for her son and then she decided to take writing classes at a local university.

Bruss had previously worked as a substitute teacher and school librarian and used these experiences to develop her writing. She began writing essays for the Home and Family section of the Sunday Monitor in Concord New Hampshire. Her latest work published by Scholastic is Book! Book! Book!, an imaginative children's title about animals who have discovered the library and have trouble communicating with the librarian. The idea for the book came from Bruss' father, whose joke inspired an idea for a chicken demanding a book, book!”

Bruss currently resides in rural New Hampshire with her husband Michael, her sons Nathanial and Isaac and daughters Bayshay and Isatu. Her hobbies include traveling, sailing, swimming, adaptive skiing and singing with a female musical group, the Songweavers

When the children leave the farm to go back to school, the bored barnyard animals head to the library in search of something to do. But their language ("Neigh! Neigh!" and Moo! Moo! ") is only so much noise for the kindly but confused librarian--until a determined hen flaps in and clucks "Book! Book! Book!" Soon, the gang is back on the farm happily having a story hour of their own (the cow even presents a puppet show). The plot of this debut book may be predictable, but Beeke's (The Brand New Creature) acrylic-and-watercolor paintings buoy the story. With a cheery, naïf style and dappled, Easter-basket colors, the artist makes every full-bleed spread look like a sunny mural composed by young library goers, and her vignettes keep the attempts at communication tightly focused. Even though her characterizations are deceptively simple, the resolve of the plucky fowl and glee of the newly book-equipped animals shines through. Young bibliophiles in particular will appreciate Beeke's depiction of the library as a welcoming place of fun and possibilities.
--Publishers Weekly, April 23rd, 2001

When children bo back to school, the farm animals are bored, so they drive to town and try out the public library. The librarian can't understand what the horse, the cow, the goat, and the pig are saying. But then the hen clucks "Book! Book! Book!" and the librarian finally gets it and gives them all books to take home to the farm. Even young kids may find the nonsense a bit contrived, but they'll love making all the animal noises and recognize how it feels when an adult doesn't understand what they're saying. The playful, splashy pictures in watercolor and acrylic show the library as a busy, exciting place, where the goat gets absorbed in story hour, and the bullfrog is cozy on the bookshelves. In fact, in a running gag, the pictures show that the bullfrog has been at home with books from the beginning. Then the story hours comes to the barnyard, and the delighted neighs, moos, baas, oinks, quacks, and Book! Book! Book! go until sundown.
---Booklist, May 15th 2001