GODZILLA STOMP!

A monster makes a mess of an idyllic island.

Godzilla customarily emerges from the sea off the coast of Japan. Here, it incongruously arrives in a distinctly European fairy-tale setting, an island whose residents include the Gingerbread Man, Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack, climbing his beanstalk. Godzilla, it seems, has truly lost its way. The Gingerbread Man, who spots the monster first, cries, “GODZILLA! STOP! You’re in the wrong story!” But Godzilla won’t be deterred; its sole purpose in life is to STOMP. There’s little rhyme or reason to Godzilla’s antics, but each interaction is silly-scary and inevitably messy. The Gingerbread Man gets stuck on the sole of the beast’s enormous, sharp-clawed green foot; the reptilian behemoth bypasses the royal ball in favor of planting a satisfying squish on Cinderella’s Pumpkin Carriage. Most of the creature’s destruction is wanton and reckless, but one stomp proves unintentionally helpful. The witch from Hansel and Gretel loses her Candy House—“at least [she] won’t lure any more kids.” In Godzilla’s wake, the village is forever changed. Fans of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series and similar stories that celebrate the gleeful chaos of childhood will enjoy Godzilla’s nonstop, over-the-top stompfest, emphasized in detailed illustrations replete with active blasts of color and debris. Calm, collected, morally irreproachable preschoolers need not apply.

A comedic appetite for destruction offers giggles galore.