storybook

[stawr-ee-book]

noun

1. a book that contains a story or stories especially for children.

adjective

1. idealized, romantic, or picturesque, as if from a book of stories.

   She lives in a storybook cottage on an island off the coast of Maine.

storybook

/ ˈstɔːrɪˌbʊk /

noun

1. a book containing stories, esp for children

adjective

1. unreal or fantastic

   a storybook world

Word History and Origins

Origin of storybook¹

First recorded in 1705–15; story ¹ + book

Example Sentences

“We were learning on the fly, getting extra security, managing ticket sales, creating guest lists. It was a storybook situation.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

From the outside, it looked like a gingerbread cottage from a storybook, much to the delight of the littlest Swanburne girls.

Read more on Literature

But if we adjust the details a bit, that sounds awfully close to Elon Musk’s lazy storybook fantasies about charming hobbit villages protected by “hard men.”

Read more on Salon

“Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets,” a thematic survey of 55 paintings and one lithograph at the Barnes Foundation, is that rare, magical exhibition that casts a storybook spell.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

And, on Monday, all the main characters of this storybook accomplishment got their moment in the sun.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• dreamlike www.thesaurus.com
• false 
• fanciful 
• hallucinatory 
• illusory 
• immaterial 
• unbelievable