Watch B.J. Novak Read His New Children’s Book to Little Kids at the Brattle

B.J. Novak—Newton Native, Harvard grad, and former star of The Office—is a man of many trades. After landing a role in this year’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and releasing his first anthology of fiction stories called One More Thing, he just added “children’s book author” to his lengthy résumé.

Novak’s take on a children’s book is actually quite original. The Book with No Pictures is, in fact, a children’s book without illustrations, and is filled with funny words like “BLUURF” and “BLORK” in fonts of all colors, shapes, and sizes. As the book says, “Everything the words say, the person reading the book has to say.” The book is meant to be read aloud by a grown-up in the silliest way possible.

The Book with No Pictures

Novak visited the Brattle Theatre on Thursday where he read his book aloud to four little kids and an audience full of grown-ups. The event was co-sponsored by Harvard Book Store and 826 Boston, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students and their writing skills.

Here’s a quick snippet from Novak’s reading in which he was reading the crazy page from above:

Afterward, Novak hosted a signing and Q&A with both the children and adult audience. One child, who looked no more than 6 years old, asked Novak, “Are there any other books in town that have no pictures?”

“You’re in luck,” the author said. “There are toooooons of books in town with no pictures.”

Novak also told the crowd that he liked the idea of the kid having the power, for an adult to be handed a book that wasn’t their choice, and to read silly words out loud that they might not want to say. The kids “are able to be mischievous.”

For an additional laugh, here’s a video B.J. Novak slaying an entire classroom of kids with The Book with No Pictures.