The Future Book

The Future Book by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Shawn Harris (Simon & Schuster) HB RRP $27.99 ISBN: 9781761639302 

Reviewed by Dannielle Viera

There’s a curiosity around every corner as life in the future is laid bare. The sun is called the moon, and the moon is called the sun. Bananas are called apples, but apples don’t have a name because they don’t exist in the future. Even the customs are odd. Rather than ‘goodbye’, people in the future say, ‘You smell like a baby!’ And there’s a brand-new colour – blorange – which rhymes with no other word. Isn’t the future weirdly wonderful?

Award-winning author Mac Barnett has let his imagination run wild, and readers aged four to eight will enjoy the rollicking ride. Crazy phrases and surprise situations are sure to keep youngsters on the edge of their seats as they wait for the next silly thing to appear. The mad-lib-like ending is the height of hilariousness, and even adults will snicker at the audacious absurdity.

Shawn Harris’s funny and fluid illustrations flow across the spreads in an array of glorious colours. The use of fluoro green as the anchoring ‘future’ hue – from the endpapers and the apple’s leaf to speech bubbles and a fish gently placed on people’s heads – ensures that the disparate images remain part of the same visual universe.

Crammed with creative yet kooky ideas that sound laughably ludicrous, The Future Book is perfect for reading aloud. Kids and parents alike will find it entertaining from the first page until the last.