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GULLIBLE'S TROUBLES by Margaret Shannon

GULLIBLE'S TROUBLES

by Margaret Shannon & illustrated by Margaret Shannon

Pub Date: March 1st, 1998
ISBN: 0-395-83933-5
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Anyone who has ever been bamboozled by a belief that those he loves are telling the truth will be rooting for Gullible Guineapig. He is visiting his aunt, uncle, and cousin, and he is getting underfoot. Aunt Sarah tells him that if he eats 50 carrots, he’ll be invisible; Cousin Lila offers him real soccer boots (her rose pink heels); and Uncle Bernard sets him to washing coal. When the coal, of course, dissolves, Gullible goes to the basement to fetch more. He walks down the steps on his hands as Lila has warned him about the cellar monster, whose feet he (and readers) can see in the gloom. When Aunt Sarah, Uncle Bernard, and Lila go down to the cellar and don’t return, Gullible eats a quick 50 carrots, puts on his “soccer boots,” and invisibly scampers home to his mom, reappearing in her arms. He gets the last laugh at his relatives, too, for when they emerge from the basement, the cellar monster is behind them. The message is pretty mean, but the paintings—rich in color, detail, and silliness—will have children laughing out loud by the closing scene. (Picture book. 4-8)