When I first read the news “Sigur Rós frontman to release picture book,” I immediately imagined lead singer Jón Þór Birgisson hunched over a desk, busily creating a children’s picture book. He seems like the type that would use a quill to write, probably lit by a candle in the musty storage attic of an Icelandic modern art museum, so I imagined that too. It was only later that I learned his book was not a “story” picture book at all, but rather a genuine picture book, filled entirely with... well, pictures. Perhaps I just liked the idea of Birgisson as a children’s author, the idea of children and hipsters everywhere uniting around such a cute commonality. Perhaps I liked the idea that kids would give up kickball on playgrounds in favor of improvised, ambient jam sessions. Perhaps I just liked the idea that another musician might one day come along and dethrone Madonna as dictator of the musician/children’s author world.

Regardless, Birgisson’s book (which he co-wrote with his boyfriend, Alex) entitled Rice Boy Sleeps, was released in Iceland on November 24 and is due for international release in 2007. No clues have surfaced as to what, if any, plot the book will be centered around, but both the title and sources close to the author have hinted a possible “vegans taking power-naps” theme. Faxes and e-mails were sent to Birgisson’s publicist, but all were returned in Hopelandic and therefore were useless from a journalistic standpoint.

More information on Rice Boy Sleeps can be found here.