B.J. Novak Is Writing a Children’s Book

B.J. Novak Image by Getty Images

By Anne Cohen January 21, 2014

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All that dancing around to “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” in “Saving Mr. Banks” seems to have given B.J. Novak a taste for children’s literature.

The Jewish actor and TV writer, who plays composer/lyricist Bob Sherman in the movie about the making of “Mary Poppins,” has signed with Penguin Young Readers Group to do a children’s book called “The Book with No Pictures.”

I am very happy to announce my first kids’ book, “The Book With No Pictures,” which Penguin will publish in Sept! http://t.co/ePY9ABfa3O

ampmdash; B.J. Novak (@bjnovak) January 21, 2014

Scheduled for release in 2014, the book is exactly as advertised: a book without pictures. Per the publisher: it “turns the notion of the [format] on its head.”

“I wanted to write a book that would introduce the youngest of kids to the idea that words can be their allies — that the right words can be as fun, exciting, and ridiculous as any pictures,” Novak explained. “Also, I can’t draw.”