Delia's Dull Day: An Incredibly Boring Story

Poor Delia, nothing ever happens to her. Her life is so dull, dull, dull. But perhaps if Delia decided to look up or turn around, she'd see... the elephants marching through her house... the pirate sitting behind her on the school bus... or even the submarine that rises to the surface right after she leaves the pool! If Delia ever paid attention, she'd realize her life is quite exciting after all! Artist Andy Myer brings to hilarious life the experiences and possibilities that the world might offer each of us if we would only pay attention.

2013 Paterson Prize for Books for Young People Winner - Grades PreK-3 Category, Winner, 2013

School Library Journal

PreS-K–Delia takes readers through her previous day, explaining all the ways in which it was so boring, but the art tells the real story. While she is eating her cereal, two elephants walk through her living room, but she is so busy worrying about spilling milk that she doesn’t notice them. Instances like this happen on every page, giving readers glances at pirates, gorillas, aliens, hot-air balloons, and more. Myer integrates his text done in various fonts, sizes, and colors with his watercolor illustrations, making the words feel as though they are flowing into the pictures. This charming story with its hilarious art is perfect for group sharing. Children will love that they can see what Delia can’t and will feel they’ve been let in on a secret. That device alone makes this a great book that will see lots of repeated readings.

Kirkus Reviews

An amusing visual riff on the frequent refrain “nothing ever happens to me.”

Delia recounts the details of her incredibly dull yesterday. While her words describe a pedestrian day from breakfast to bedtime, the illustrations tell a completely different story. While Delia’s eyes are either trained down on her cereal or a handheld device or looking straight ahead, lots of interesting things are happening around her. Delia complains, “NOTHING happened during my breakfast, except I spilled some milk.” As she struggles with the milk, two elephants parade unseen down her hallway. Later, wildly shaped hot-air balloons float by while she checks her phone and waits for the bus. A pirate rides to school with her, and an astronaut floats by her math-class window while Delia doodles. The droll, first-person point of view carries the sarcastic, bored tone to its humorous extreme. The message could not be clearer: Look up and see the interesting world around you! This lesson is delivered in such a winning, funny package that it hardly seems like a lesson at all. Closer to Where’s Waldo in their invitation to look closely than a pat lesson on awareness, these lively, cartoony illustrations offer many chortles per page and invite amused readers to return to find more “boring” details in Delia’s life.

Young readers will chuckle at Delia’s cluelessness—and maybe think twice about their own assumptions. (Picture book. 4-9)