HOT FOOD

Innocence shatters in the face of scalding spuds.

There was a time, we are assured, when our young narrator thought that his father knew absolutely everything. Rosen relies on his signature flair for repetition as the boy stands with his father looking at a bus. For each question the boy asks (“Wossat?” “What are those round things on the bottom?” “But how many are there?”), his dad has a quick and ready answer. Three times the boy thinks, “Wow! My dad knows…EVERYTHING!” Then comes a day deemed “terrible” by our narrator. At dinner, Mum has served delicious, hot potatoes. One by one the protagonist, his little brother, and their mum all blow on their food before taking a bite. But Dad? He gleefully stuffs his potatoes straight into his mouth, consequently gasping, yelling, puffing, and then spewing food all over the table. The tale provides one of those intensely satisfying moments in a child’s life when they prove more capable than their parents. Rosen milks the moment of Dad’s downfall for maximum comic effect. Meanwhile, Layton’s loose pencil and digital art expertly highlights the comic madness of the moment, the dad’s panic rendered in all its messy glory as his family gapes. Characters are light-skinned.

A fun slice of life and a universal moment with just a tincture of gross-out humor for spice.