The Worst Book Ever

Elise Gravel wants to write a totally drab book; her characters want to let loose. Who’s gonna win?

Don’t take the title as a metaphor: it really is the worst book ever. The winner of the Governor General Literary Award and children’s book author and illustrator Elise Gravel takes readers on an unexpected journey through the world’s most boring book in The Worst Book Ever. The characters and omniscient readers alike quickly become annoyed by the author’s bland imagination and rebel against her tired tropes and stale choices, spouting sass in an attempt to get her attention and steer the narrative in a more interesting direction. After all, you don’t even have to buy the book, but the characters? They’re stuck in there for an eternity, and they’re going to do their best to make the most of it, or at least have a little fun when they can.

As the charming and bizarre true nature of the characters overpowers the dry attributes given to them by the author, this once blasé story quickly picks up speed, transforming into something much more unique than originally promised. With Gravel’s signature goofy characters behind the wheel, no silly twist or rude body function is off the table.

Elise Gravel is an author/illustrator from Montreal. After studying graphic design, she pursued a career writing and illustrating children’s books, where her quirky and charming characters quickly won the hearts of children and adults worldwide. In 2012, Gravel received the Governor General’s Literary Award for her book La cle a molette. A prolific artist, she currently has more than thirty children’s books to her name, which have been translated into a dozen languages, including The Disgusting Critters series, and If Found . . . Please Return to Elise Gravel, her challenge to young artists to keep a sketchbook. She lives in Montreal with her spouse, two daughters, cats, and a few spiders.