Book Review ~ The Day the Books Disappeared - When Losing Stories Teaches Us to Listen

Hello everyone, The reviewed picture-book is a wonderful and weighty story The Day the Books Disappeared told by Joanna Ho and Caroline Kusin Pritchard and illustrated by Dan Santat and published on July 15, 2025. It is an enchanted story of how reading, diversity, and empathy play a very important role in the contemporary world.

  Book Summary  

Arnold is in love with his favorite book, which is about airplanes and just cannot imagine why the rest of the people lean on tomatoes, submarines, or ostriches, and this point irritates him so much that, with a few waves of magic, all the rest of the books disappear including the one that he owns. The books of his fellow students will have vanished and this classroom now remains silent. It hits Arnold how much the favorite story of each of them meant to them. Following the principles of both empathy and curiosity, he finds a sense of enthusiasm in other things and strives to restore the books and knowledge.

  Illustrator and Themes  

Dan Santat illustrates the story with his playful details, strong color and an abundance of emotional warmth. Santat brings out the dramatic look of Arnold in mischief to remorse through humor and affection.

The tale is a kid-friendly ode to reading, unity, and the necessity to appreciate diversity of interests and opinions. It is also a soft reminder about the meaning of having the freedom of the book and standing up against censorship.

  My Personal Thoughts  

It is a very sweet irreverent picture book on the subject of bibliophilia and empathy. The magical idea is perfectly used to prove that it is everyone favorite story and that various stories unite people rather than divide them.

The transformation of Arnold, who starts with a limited set of preferences, to the one who loves variety, is nice and close to heart. The tone is a mix between mischievous light-mindedness and heartfelt honesty and this is why it is both amusing and heartwarming.

The multiple messages will be enjoyed by parents of young readers and the teaching community as well: curiosity, respect of other people, and the liberty to discover the numerous worlds of books. It has just 40 pages but is a brief read that lingers in the mind.

The Day the Books Disappeared is a charming and considerate picture book that advocates empathy, variety of opinions, and reading. This is just what children aged 3 to7 or adults who have an interest in the free will of ideas will adore. It is an outstanding choice of classroom reading or family story time.

Highly recommended for fans of Torkidlit, classroom inclusion, and meaningful messages in picture books, this one is strongly recommended. I would like to know what you think and if you had the I only like one book phase growing up.