MUCUMBER MCGEE AND THE LUNCH LADY’S LIVER

Tummy troubles persist in this tepid follow-up to Mucumber McGee and the Half-Eaten Hot Dog (2007). When Mucumber arrives late to the school cafeteria for lunch he finds that all the food has been passed out, save a single item. Though the lunch lady informs him that this plate of liver cake is a delicious dish, our hero isn’t sold on the idea. His sister tries to convince him that he’s been handed spleen to eat, and the smell can only be described as akin to “rotten cheese.” Readers will probably be unsurprised to find that when Mucumber actually tries the liver it proves to be a tasty treat. The rhymes are barely passable (“The lunch lady was watching. / Mucumber felt her stare. / He saw her grab her cleaver / and wave it in the air”) and the pictures provide the usual dense, dark fare seen in so many other macabre picture books. Still, it is difficult to dislike too heartily a book praising the taste and nutritious benefits of a foodstuff as repulsive as liver. Adequate but forgettable. (Picture book. 4-8)