B.J. Novak publishes children's book

For many, B.J. Novak is “that guy from 'The Office'” (2005-2013). But apart from being “Ryan the Temp” with whom Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) are infatuated, Novak is beginning to make every “Office” lover wonder, "Is there anything he can’t do?"

According to Novak, he’s just “a writer who wants to hand-deliver." This mission has led him to try his hand at almost every aspect of drama: screenwriting, directing, acting, stand-up comedy and beyond. In February of this year, Novak published his debut book, a collection of alternately dark and humorous short stories called “One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories.” This month, he’s back on everyone's radar as an author, except now he’s writing for a slightly different audience: kids.

On Sept. 30, Novak released “The Book with No Pictures,”a children’s book charting new territory because, believe it or not, it actually has no pictures. Not even a picture of the author on the back cover. The book is filled with text in a variety of fonts and bright colors, forcing the reader to utter ridiculous things like “boo boo butt,” “blueberry pizza” and a few other crazy sounds in between.

Novak performed a heartwarming reading of his new book at the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square last Thursday, an event sponsored by the Harvard Bookstore (Novak’s favorite, he admitted on stage). While the crowd was filled largely by surrounding college students and Harvard Bookstore-frequenters, Novak made sure that each child in the audience received his utmost attention.After all, while his latest work may lack illustration, it’s still very much geared towards making kids (and adults for that matter) giggle as much as possible when read aloud. And after hearing Novak read just a few lines, not even the grumpiest adult in the audience could keep a straight face.  

Novak, dressed casually in a grey striped sweater and jeans, invited each child in the audience to join him on stage. Naturally, most of the kids were a bit too shy, but a few brave souls took the spotlight and lined up right next to him. After a few pages, both kids and adults had to struggle to keep from laughing. Each new word or noise uttered by Novak forced everyone into a fit of hysterics; they ate it right up. After Novak’s reading, he turned his attention to his younger audience members for questions. 

“Are there any books without pictures in town?” a child attendee identified as Josh, age six, innocently asked. Novak responded by elaborating on just how many other books without pictures there are in town -- scary ones, exciting ones, interesting ones and boring ones. But, he pointed out, many of these are best suited to readers a few years older than Josh.

As cute as Josh’s interest in “books without pictures” was, it hit on a much larger point of Novak’s book as a whole. While one may initially think a pictureless children’s book sounds like a horribly boring idea, in fact it's just the opposite. Novak explained that "The Book with No Pictures" was inspired by a realization he had a while back: Children’s books are just like dramatic scripts for adults. A child -- daughter, son, niece or nephew -- holds up a book to an adult for the fifteenth time, and well, yep, it's time to read it once again. And say every single word. There's no other option, right?

So, Novak wondered, why not help kids realize that they have the power to force adults to say every single word on the page, no matter what the book may say? By allowing kids to realize that they can make adults say crazy, ridiculous things, they might just realize something a bit more important as well: Words are power. And once children discover this power, they might just start hoping that, eventually, others might utter their words, ideas and thoughts as well.