Bored by Sala, Felicita

Utter boredom leads one imaginative girl to inspiration in this clever story from much-loved creator Felicita Sala.

Rita is bored. So, so, so bored.

She's tried stretching her body across her bedroom, side-eyeing herself in the mirror, stomping her feet and swinging her arms. Time drags on, and there she remains: catatonic with boredom.

In her tragic and weakened state, her mind drifts to the beginning of a daydream. What if all the bored people in the world gathered together and got onto a bus? What if the boredom filled them up like balloons, with tiny heads and arms sticking out? What if they floated into the sky, bobbing along until they each spied something exciting enough to make them toot the boredom out?

By the time Rita's mother calls her for dinner, she's very, very busy.

Anyone who's ever been bored will find catharsis in Rita's plight. As all creative people eventually learn, boredom can be the best launchpad to great ideas. Felicita Sala's expressive, inviting illustrations and sly storytelling are a guaranteed antidote to the doldrums.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Author: Felicita Sala
Publisher: Neal Porter Books
Published: 01/06/2026
Pages: 48
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 11.20h x 8.70w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9780823461141
Audience: Ages 4-8

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 01/01/2026
Publishers Weekly 09/29/2025
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2025
School Library Journal 11/01/2025 pg. 94
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 12/01/2025

About the Author
Felicita Sala is an author and self-taught illustrator. Her titles include If You Run Out of Words, What's Cooking at 10 Garden Street?, What's Cooking in Flowerville?, and Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street, which has been translated into ten languages. She is the illustrator of the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal book As Night Falls by Donna Napoli, the New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Book She Made a Monster by Lynn Fulton, and many others. She is a recipient of the Premio Andersen (the Andersen Prize). Raised in Perth, Australia, she lives in Rome, where she was born.