“You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bore.” – Neil Gaiman

“Boredom allows one to indulge in curiosity.” – Steve Jobs

The Most Boring Book In The World delves into one of children’s (and adults) most interesting emotions: boredom. Staring, wondering, yawning, restlessly searching after something to do, resting, falling asleep. What happens to us when we get bored? Do we allow ourselves to be bored? And what happens when the grudge against boredom turns into a creative search and discovery of the unexpected?

This is a book without pictures or conversations, only words and abstract shapes; a book that trusts the imagination, humor and curiosity of children. It doesn’t ask readers to get carried away in a plot, but rather to constantly remember that they are reading a book: touching it, getting a closer look, looking at the margins, coming back to center, and imagining what is absent.

This is, perhaps, the book Alice’s sister was reading a book without any colorful and exciting adventures. But it was only through boredom that Wonderland opened up to her:

“Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice, ‘without pictures or conversations?'” – Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

2020 | age 4+ | 60 pp. | English translation Available | Rights Sold: Hebrew

“The Most Boring Book in the World, which assumes that boredom can be a blessing, couldn’t have appeared at a better time. This book, with a few words and shapes and no pictures or conversations, relies on the intelligence, humor and creativity of children. It is a wonderful response to the scene from Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland.” – Karmit Sapir Witz, Ma’arive, daily newspaper

“The book actually says: ’embrace boredom’ […] It’s a book without pictures or conversations that will blow your mind!” – Yuval Avivi and Maya Sela, Under Cover, Kan Tarbut, radio

“It’s the funniest book I’ve ever held. I found myself during the week just staring at it, and I’m not used to staring at books. You go into some kind of trance while reading it – Kids are amazed by this book. First they roll with laughter at the title and then they relax and start to figure it out. The book’s grand Finale is wonderful and the writer should be congratulated if only for that.”
– Goel Pinto, This is Also Culture, Kan Tarbut, radio

Dr. Nana Ariel is a writer, researcher and lecturer. She teaches rhetoric at Tel Aviv University and is a guest lecturer at Harvard University in the US.