Rita is bored. Really, really bored. Her toys are boring, her room is boring – everything is boring. She’s so bored she can’t even read or draw.

She tries absolutely everything to shake it off. She swings her arms like spinning fans. She jumps in front of the mirror hoping to surprise herself. She even repeats the word bored 100 times, only to discover … that’s even more boring! She balances on her tiptoes on her bed, stretching to touch the ceiling. Nothing works. She is utterly, dramatically boooooored.

So, Rita starts to wonder: surely she can’t be the only bored person in the world? What if she gathered all the bored people and they took a bus to somewhere not boring? But if everyone on the bus was still so bored they began yawning, swelling them up with boredom gas, what then? Perhaps they’d float away together – only to drift down again when they spot something shiny – landing at last on Bored Island.

But what exactly might they find there?

Bored is a delightfully odd and imaginative picture book perfectly captures the restless energy of childhood boredom. Young readers will recognise their own inventive attempts to entertain themselves, while the story’s wild detours spark the imagination.

Sala’s illustrations are a joy – full of movement, expression and personality. A book for children, certainly, but adults will find themselves smiling too, remembering the boundless, wonderfully weird imagination of childhood that can go anywhere.

Reviewed by Jane Stephens
Age Guide 4+

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Felicita was born in Rome but grew up in Perth. She graduated with Honours in Philosophy form the University of Western Australia. She moved back to Italy in 2007 where she taught herself illustration and very slowly started making picture books. Over the years she collaborated on various papercut animations with husband and animator Gianluca Maruotti. She now works as a full time illustrator.

One of her books ‘She Made a Monster’ was selected among the 10 best picture books of 2018 by the New York Times, and again in 2023 with the book ‘As Night Falls’. Her first self authored book ‘Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street’ has been translated in over 18 languages. In 2020 she won the Premio Andersen as best illustrator in Italy. In 2023 She won the gold medal at the Society of Illustrators in New York.

She lives in Rome with her family.

Visit Felicita Sala’s website