Avatar (2009 film) themselves to change into a Na'vi. "Avatar: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora", a 224-page book in the form of a field guide to the film's fictional setting of the planet of Pandora, was released by Harper Entertainment on , 2009. It is presented as a compilation of data collected by the humans about Pandora and the life on it, written by Maria Wilhelm and Dirk Mathison. HarperFestival also released Wilhelm's 48-page "James Cameron's Avatar: The Reusable Scrapbook" for children. "The Art of Avatar" was released on , 2009, by Abrams Books. The book features
Avatar (2009 film) the "Chicago Tribune" called "Avatar" "the season's ideological Rorschach blot", while Miranda Devine of "The Sydney Morning Herald" thought that "It [was] impossible to watch Avatar without being banged over the head with the director's ideological hammer." Nidesh Lawtoo believed that an essential, yet less visible social theme that contributed to "Avatar"s success concerns contemporary fascinations with virtual avatars and "the transition from the world of reality to that of virtual reality". Critics and audiences have cited similarities with other films, literature or media, describing the perceived connections in ways ranging from simple "borrowing" to outright plagiarism. Ty Burr of