THIS OR THAT?

A compendium of silly, gross, or otherwise oddball dilemmas to solve.

Taking the premise of John Burningham’s storytime standby Would You Rather? (1978) and running a long, long way with it, Snider offers over 200 posers along the lines of: “Would you rather lick a stranger…or…eat a cup of spider eggs?” Though some of the decision-making might actually be pragmatic (“Would you rather play a crazy prank on your MOM…or…play a crazy prank on your DAD?”), the author mostly goes for the “Eeeeew!” response. Low-rent graphics, varying little from page to unnumbered page, feature the two alternatives placed as if bursting through ruled-paper backgrounds, with occasional cutout photos of an animal or food product alongside. Arranged, if that’s the word, for random dipping, the choices come in no particular sequence or thematic progression, and repetitive scenarios are fairly common. Young browsers who find the more-directed options offered in Joan Axelrod-Contrada’s This or That Animal Debate (2013) and the many like compendia too sedate or worthy of serious consideration may be happy mulling over whether it would be preferable to “stick your hand in a clogged toilet” or “up the butt of a moose,” to “burp your ABCs” or “fart 10 times in a row.” Maybe.

This is Book 1. One is more than enough for just about anybody, but Book 2 is available for the very, very avid.