In some senses this is just an ordinary book: a book of stickers that children will find as no surprise. The difference, however, is that this book is for grown ups.

PK Munroe wrote the book The Thursday Night Letters: see my review here. The Thursday Night Letters are a wacky collection of ideas along the lines of the Henry Root Letters. You can stick it is another book altogether.

The basic idea is that we drive around and walk around and there is a notice that says:

• No spitting
• Slow down
• Merge from left
• Merge from right
• …

What Munroe has done is to let his imagination run riot by suggesting, indeed providing, examples of alternative signs, in peel off sticker format that might raise a smile or even a guffaw.

As with The Thursday Night Letters, many of the stickers will pass you by with a wan smile or an “As if … “. Some stickers you will probably find riotously funny.

What kind of stickers are we talking about here? The stickers come in a wide variety of sections:

• Book Stickers
• Cash Machine Stickers
• Lift Stickers
• Car Bumper Stickers
• Buddhist Bumper Stickers
• Health & Safety Stickers

… you get the idea: all subjects are considered!

Here are a few examples of the pithy sayings that you will find:

Book Stickers

• Another celebrity cash in
• True life celebrity drivel
• Caution: translated on the cheap
• Winner of an obscure prize
• Adapted from a lousy TV series

Cash Machine Stickers

• Your balance is less than you think
• We may retain your card for a spending spree

Lift Stickers

• Going down: cable unlikely to break
• Going down: fitted with anti-death plunge mechanism

Car Bumper Stickers

• Chariot of the chavs

Buddhist Bumper Stickers

• You too shall pass

Health & Safety Stickers

• In case of emergency:
• Steal something
• Start a fight
• Gird your loins

Other stickers, at random:

• CCTV Stickers: I’d put that back if I were you
• Food labels: factory farmed; unfair trade; same high price; save £0
• Computer stickers … these will resonate with most of us and, sadly, they are really not so far from the truth. The Windows logo has the skull and crossbones over it and the Intel logo has become the Inhell logo! Then you will find: less memory than grandma; all new error messages; crashes more often than Formula 1.

If I have a favourite, I have to say the Computer Stickers hit the spot but my number one series has to be the Buddhist Bumper Stickers. There are only three Buddhist stickers but they are the ones that brought most mirth with them. The Fridge Door Stickers are also very good and to save spoiling the whole book, I have not revealed any of them here!

There are many other categories in the book too and as with the fridge door stickers, I shouldn’t give too much away. There is a PK Munroe Blog where many (all?) of these stickers can be previewed …

There is a problem with the book: what about that sticker that you fall in love with and use … then lose their stickiness so it’s unusable now without using super glue or a Pritt Stick or even sellotape? There are TWO copies of every sticker so you can irritate your friends or victims for twice as long.

Since I was asked to write this review, I should ask the question, would I buy this book? I have to be honest and say, no, I don’t know anyone who would benefit from receiving this book. However, it is sufficiently rich in ideas under many different headings to appeal to a very wide range of people looking for a stocking filler for Christmas if nothing else.

Is the book well put together (hard to say well written!), is it funny and witty and is it of good quality. Yes, I am positive here: it is well created and produced; there are many funny stickers that will no doubt find their way onto car bumpers, books, fridge doors and so on. I hope stickers are easy to unpeel!

I hope PK Munroe has some success with this wacky tome and I look forward to reading and reviewing his next effort!

Duncan Williamson
8^th November 2010