With perfect pacing, the multiple award-winning, best-selling team of Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen dig down for a deadpan tale full of visual humour.

From the award-winning team behind Extra Yarn, and illustrated by Jon Klassen, the Kate Greenaway-winning creator of This Is Not My Hat and I Want My Hat Back, comes a perfectly paced, deadpan tale full of visual humour. Sam and Dave are on a mission. A mission to find something spectacular. So they dig a hole. And they keep digging. And they find ... nothing. Yet the day turns out to be pretty spectacular after all. Attentive readers will be rewarded with a rare treasure in this witty story of looking for the extraordinary – and finding it in a manner they'd never expect.

Creators

Mac Barnett is the author of several award-winning books for children, including President Taft Is Stuck in the Bath, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen, and Extra Yarn, illustrated by Jon Klassen, which won a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and a Caldecott Honor. Mac Barnett lives in the USA, in California. Find Mac online at www.macbarnett.com and on twitter as @macbarnett.

Jon Klassen is the author-illustrator of I Want My Hat Back and This Is Not My Hat, the only book to ever win both the Kate Greenaway and Caldecott Medal. He also illustrated Mac Barnett's Extra Yarn and served as an illustrator on the animated feature film Coraline. His illustrations for Caroline Stutson's Cats Night Out won the Governor General's Award in 2010. Originally from Niagara Falls, Canada, Jon now lives in Los Angeles, California. Find Jon online at www.burstofbeaden.com and on Twitter as @burstofbeaden.

Reviews

I’m not going to reveal what happens, but the ending is wonderful. This one is Syd’s favourite and goes into our picture book hall of fame.

The Australian

I love the clever play between Barnett’s words and Klassen’s illustrations.

Reading Time

Awards

Bank Street College Irma Black Award
Caldecott Honor Book
California Young Reader Medal
E. B. White Read-Aloud Award
New England Book Show, Juvenile
Ohio Buckeye Children’s Book Award
Parents’ Choice Award
Kate Greenaway Medal (CILIP)
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