The Book That No One Wanted to Read

From actor-author-broadcaster-comedian-filmmaker Richard Ayoade comes a book narrated by . . . a book. Quirky, smart, and genre-busting, this is the saga of a book that nobody wants to read—until the day it meets YOU.

The life of a book isn’t easy, especially when people judge you by your cover (not every book can be adorned with sparkly unicorns!). And this narrator should know—it’s the book itself, and it has a lot of opinions. It gets irritated when readers bend its pages back, and it finds authors quite annoying. But it does have a story to tell. Through witty direct address and charming illustrations, readers meet a book that has never been read, with a cover the boring color of a school lunch table and pages so dry they give bookworms indigestion. But what happens when this book meets you, a curious reader? Multitalented author Richard Ayoade and award-winning illustrator Tor Freeman bring to life a hilariously subversive take on the nature of books and reading, with a heartening theme of finding the courage to tell our own stories. Readers of all ages will be delighted by the myriad bookish references and laughs on every page.

Richard Ayoade is a much-loved comedian, BAFTA-winning actor (The IT Crowd), writer, director, and TV presenter (the 2021 BAFTAS, Have I Got News for You?, Travel Man) as well as a bibliophile. He regularly appears on comedy shows, was the voice of Zero in The Mandalorian, and directed the films Submarine and The Double. He has written three books on film for adults. This is his debut children’s book.

Tor Freeman graduated from Kingston University with a BA in illustration and has worked as an illustrator, author, and comics-maker ever since. She is the illustrator and creator of many children's books and comic strips, including The Toucan Brothers, the Olive series, and Welcome to Oddleigh. She was a Sendak Fellow and received a Jonathan Cape/Observer/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize. Tor Freeman lives and works in London.