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A review by twicomb
Once Upon a Workday: Encouraging Tales of Resilience by Jonathan Kunz, Elizabeth Pich
3.0
Loved the title, and the cover art grabbed me. Unfortunately, this wasn't my favorite. And that's ok. Not every book has to suit every person. I think a big part of what I didn't love was that the first "story" (chapter? piece?) was a clear parody on Dr. Seuss. Maybe I've been around the block enough that this doesn't feel very original to me anymore (riffing on existing well-known pop culture), but there you go - it didn't feel very original. The rest of the book is more of the same, but with less of a direct "Dr. Seuss" feel to the parodies, which left me unsure whether they were all supposed to be in that vein and just missed the mark, or if the rest were just supposed to be nursery rhyme-style parables about humorous adult situations. I do think that both the writer and artist have a lot going for them and have a lot of great ideas. The execution just fell somewhat flat for me.
I feel a bit badly about leaving this review because if I had been able to tell from the cover or description that this book was themed around Dr. Seuss parody, I would have skipped it, because I already know that's not my cup of tea. But I did read it, and when I read a book I try to leave a review that provides at least some productive feedback. So that's my real takeaway here for the publisher: it's in your best interest to be sure the potential reader knows what this contains. Because conversely, you're missing a potential audience - the sort of people who would love a Dr. Seuss parody but can't tell from the cover that that's what this book is about. I think that if you can make it a bit more obvious, and thereby get this book into those people's hands, you'll have good success.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.
I feel a bit badly about leaving this review because if I had been able to tell from the cover or description that this book was themed around Dr. Seuss parody, I would have skipped it, because I already know that's not my cup of tea. But I did read it, and when I read a book I try to leave a review that provides at least some productive feedback. So that's my real takeaway here for the publisher: it's in your best interest to be sure the potential reader knows what this contains. Because conversely, you're missing a potential audience - the sort of people who would love a Dr. Seuss parody but can't tell from the cover that that's what this book is about. I think that if you can make it a bit more obvious, and thereby get this book into those people's hands, you'll have good success.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.