Food puns may not be forgivable, but this book makes a surprisingly strong defense.
A pun is almost always dangerous.
Nearly every name in this picture book populated by breads (both raised and flat) is a play on words. Some of them will make readers feel clever. The main character is Alfie Koman, and his best friend is Challah Looyah, which will amuse anyone who loves Jewish holiday food. Classmates Naan-cy and Cornelius Tortilla provide additional overt ethnic diversity but maybe not many chuckles, and naming a charred piece of bread Burnie Toast is questionable at best. The class bully is called Loaf, which is barely a joke at all. The visual humor is more successful. The talking challah, for example, has braided hair. It seems very apt—whether it’s meant as a joke or not—that Loaf is shaped like the tablets that contain the Ten Commandments. (In the pictures, Moses and most of the Israelites are depicted as human and appear to be White.) Alfie spends most of the book trying to tell the Passover story to his classmates, but Loaf keeps interrupting. This leads to some wonderfully stupid jokes. The ruler of Egypt, Loaf says, is a giant insect named Pha-Roach, and according to him, the 10 plagues include “Birthday Clowns” and “Indoor Recess Forever.” The book turns briefly serious when Alfie finally stands up to the bully (yelling, “LET MY STORY GO!”) and tells “the REAL Passover story.” This leads to an inspiring moral about bravery and friendship, but many readers won’t mind the lesson, because it’s both genuinely moving and a relief from the puns. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.5-by-19-inch double-page spreads viewed at 90.2% of actual size.)
Food puns may not be forgivable, but this book makes a surprisingly strong defense. (glossary) (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11811-5
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Halloween is used merely as a backdrop; better holiday titles for young readers are available.
A ghost learns to appreciate his differences.
The little ghost protagonist of this title is unusual. He’s a quilt, not a lightweight sheet like his parents and friends. He dislikes being different despite his mom’s reassurance that his ancestors also had unconventional appearances. Halloween makes the little ghost happy, though. He decides to watch trick-or-treaters by draping over a porch chair—but lands on a porch rail instead. A mom accompanying her daughter picks him up, wraps him around her chilly daughter, and brings him home with them! The family likes his looks and comforting warmth, and the little ghost immediately feels better about himself. As soon as he’s able to, he flies out through the chimney and muses happily that this adventure happened only due to his being a quilt. This odd but gently told story conveys the importance of self-respect and acceptance of one’s uniqueness. The delivery of this positive message has something of a heavy-handed feel and is rushed besides. It also isn’t entirely logical: The protagonist could have been a different type of covering; a blanket, for instance, might have enjoyed an identical experience. The soft, pleasing illustrations’ palette of tans, grays, white, black, some touches of color, and, occasionally, white text against black backgrounds suggest isolation, such as the ghost feels about himself. Most humans, including the trick-or-treating mom and daughter, have beige skin. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-16.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 66.2% of actual size.)
Halloween is used merely as a backdrop; better holiday titles for young readers are available. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7352-6447-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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