Finish This Book Paperback – September 6, 2011

I picked up a copy of Keri Smith's "This is Not a Book" on a whim, at the grocery store and had so much fun with it, that I decided to check out more of her stuff. I found "Finish this Book" on amazon and decided to order it. This book is just plain fun! As I am not a very creative person and I really have no clue how to journal, Keri Smith's books really help me to see how fun it can be. I like that they are very generic yet if you decide to interact with them they become very personal. Also, because they start so generic, they are kid friendly. Each book gives you ideas on how to explore the world around you in such a great way. It really opens your eyes to the plain and boring things you overlook on an everyday basis.It is summer break for the kids right now so I gave my (11 y/o) daughter a copy of each and she has been entertained with them everyday. She looks forward to writing in them, and it makes her daily treks so much easier to look forward to. Some/a lot of the instruction say "take a walk" or "on your walk," which we both appreciate because it makes getting out of the house and exercising, something to look forward to and enjoy verses something we have dreaded in the past. Plus, these books allows us some great bonding time and allows us to explore our community with fresh eyes!We have not actually completed any of these books yet, but I suspect that it will be quite rewarding to look back and see how much we have done and watch the progress of our observational skills and writing skills. And it will also be a great book to pass on to future generations, so that they may learn more about us and perhaps be inspired to create their own.I have decided to order everyone on my family/friends list a copy of her books for Christmas. I will wrap them and not tag them as I just want to give them randomly in hopes that the universe will get the right book to the person that will appreciate it most!

I bought this as a gift for my granddaughter but she hasn’t opened it yet.I flipped through the book and fell in love with it!

Granddaughter liked it

This book was unlike any other I have ever read. I'd hardly even call it a book as it was more of an interactive artistic experience rather than a reading book. This review will be containing some general spoilers about the layout and certain features of the book. The first portion of the book served as a warm-up for the reader's imagination, by preparing the reader to engage in arts and crafts, like illustrating a short story or "testing" out a favorite pen. Throughout the next portion, the reader started to set up the suspense of the mystery of the instruction manual, which was the most important aspect of “Finish this book”. In this preemptive section, there were quite a few interactive activities like asking the reader to decode certain puzzles and defining what a sleuth is to increase the suspense. I believe this portion of the book was meant to further engage the reader and have them begging to use the book to interact with their immediate surrounding. However, the best part of the book came in the actual Instruction Manual where topics such as the secret of the lost order, the exploration of the neighborhood/nature, and demand for certain levels of secrecy really encouraged the leader to use their imagination to create a fun mysterious reality within their own backyard. Another positive aspect of this book was the code-breaking. I don’t want to spoil anything too important, but I would highly recommend solving all the puzzles, as this was the coolest part of the book. The only semi-negative comment I have is over some of the interactive activities seemed overtly cheesy, like taking time to watch the sky and to then document it. Although, it’s a nice idea in theory it just seems too cheesy to me that I was just not interested. Overall, I think this book did a good job of trying to get the reader to use their imagination to further the mystery of the instruction manual, however, for many adults, this may not be ideal. Honestly, it really depends on what your preference is. If you’re an adult who likes to engage your imagination and engage in arts and crafts this book is perfect for you. However, I believe the ideal audience for this book would be young teens as it had a childish feel regarding the arts and crafts, yet still required some independence for exploring. I think I would recommend this book as I had fun working through it and honestly, it was worth the money. It would make a great Christmas gift or for a fun weekend.

Once again Ms. Smith has put together a book that can get anyone excited about books, writing and creating. I gave this to my 9-year old son who immediately proclaimed "this book is boring." I said nothing, left it on his table and within 24 hours I noticed he had taken a fervent interest in the book. Cutting the chase, after about a week, he had given up the quest to find some something-or-other in a video game to work on many of the "assignments" in this book. He was outside, in the house, on the Internet doing all kinds of sleuthing, investigating and researching. He wrote plenty about his findings (more than anything he's done in school) and applied a lot of the process to an upcoming class project (Hallelujah!!!! can you hear the bells ringing??). And I noticed he proudly took this book to school to show some of his friends what he's been doing. For an upcoming friend's birthday, he insisted this was what he wanted, and now there's a group of kids who are all over this book, creating their own manuals, guides, etc.Please, oh please, Ms. Smith, do another one soon!!!