There's no such book by Jessica Dettmann illustrated by Jake A Minton

This book offers a fresh perspective on the whole ‘book week’ costume dilemma and should encourage young readers to think about ‘what really makes a book, a book?’ This book will enjoyed in schools and homes in the lead up to book week and it might inspire weird and wonderful costumes. (Hopefully based on books and not Disney or other commercial characters). 

There is an explosion of imaginative ideas on the cover of this book. The optimism of mum contrasts beautifully with the doubtful face of Ellie. Mum and Ellie are shown to be so different – in appearance and personality - yet they have such a wonderful and gentle bond. Mum’s patience and creativity is to be commended. Mum is creative and eccentric with wild red hair and a colourful cardigan, while Ellie is more scholarly and tidier, with neat straight black hair and a crisp school uniform. Their home is a wild and creative space – full of books, plants, tea, lamps and candlelight.

Mum and Ellie also have such gorgeous expressive faces. I especially adore mum’s huge glasses and hand knitted rainbow cardigan and you can feel the love behind the squeeze when mum hugs Ellie after telling her there will a costume solution in the morning. 

This is a single parent family but that theme is just in the background. In a poignant moment we get a hint about dad from the photo which we see early in the morning as Ellie heads down the hallway. 

The end papers come from the kitchen tiles and it interesting that the tile pattern disappears when Ellie tells her mum book week is tomorrow!

The house lighting gives the pages in this book a lovely soft glow and it is easy to identify nighttime and morning light. Mum’s collection of pot plants are also very appealing. Jake Minton has given mum and Ellie big wide eyes, the expressive faces and beautiful body language. 

There is a quiet, gentle connection between the mother and daughter and I so appreciate the love the mother shows when she makes that special book for her little girl. That lounge on the front cover looks so comfy. When you look closely you can see Mum has worked so late into the night on the new book for Ellie she didn't have the energy to put on her own pyjamas and so she wore her jumper to bed! The shared ice cream at the end of the book adds to the happy mood and assures the reader that this costume will be the perfect one for this little girl. We know she will feel that she does fit in with everyone else at their book week event. 

There's no such book was short listed for our CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) New Illustrator award 2023. 

Here is the judges' report: Wide eyes and expressive faces and bodies stand out creating distinct characters with a gentle connection between the mother and daughter depicted. An engaging cover and endpapers gracefully anticipate aspects of the story, while the setting is an appealing space, and the lighting gives the pages a soft glow. The colours vary on each page creating shifts in mood from the earthy reality of home to the vibrancy of the imaginative worlds; also, the use of broken white outlines lends a sgraffito element artistically, which lifts the colours. Minton has an assured illustrative style with an authentic and individual use of Procreate; he understands point-of-view, layout, colour and design.

I am not a fan of book week parades and dress up days. I worked with children who came from very poor circumstances with no family support for events like this and many could only come in play clothes or even their school uniform. On the other hand, though this book does give a lovely message about improvising a costume and there is no sense of a competition which is what it became at one of my school where wealthy parents hired costumes from a theatre company in Sydney and this is even more shocking because this was the school where some little children had no lunch, no breakfast and one parent in jail so of course they didn’t have fancy costumes to flaunt at a parade. But this is a book that I would be happy to share with a group of children in a school library - ideally in the weeks leading up to Book Week if the school is planning a dressing up event.