Thursday, May 16, 2013

[BOOK REVIEW] McFig and McFly: A Tale of Jealousy, Revenge and Death by Henrik Drescher



Title: McFig and McFly: A Tale of Jealousy, Revenge and Death

Author:  Henrik Drescher


Genre: Family / Humor / Drama / Competition


Year Published: 2008


Year Read: 2009

Publisher:  Candlewick Press

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Death)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

 


“McFig and McFly” is illustrator Henrik Drescher’s latest children’s book and it is certainly one of his most dramatic books ever created since "Simon's Book."  In this tale, two neighbors named McFig and McFly started competing with each other to see who has the better house.  “McFig and McFly” is a wonderful tale about how being too competitive can produce consequences for oneself, but children might be a little disturbed by the scene where a character dies.


Henrik Drescher’s illustrations are creative and childish at the same time, which is in the similar style of "Gruesome Guide to World Monsters."  Henrik Drescher makes McFig sport glasses and have a curly mustache and blonde hair while he makes McFly look a little more handsome than McFig by him sporting a huge eyeball that is mainly seen from the side of his face (which the reader only sees the side of McFly and we never see McFly from the front of his face).  Henrik Drescher also does a great job at making McFig’s and McFly’s cottages look more surreal and rickety as the two men started adding more and more junk on top of their houses during their competition.  Henrik Drescher writes this story in a surreal yet simple way as he goes into great detail at how the two men started putting more and more stuff on top of their cottages to be better than the other.  Also, he describes how the two men failed to pay attention to their children’s blossoming romance and how their children wanted peace between the two men as they realized that this competition has gotten out of hand.

Parents should know that there is a death scene in this book regarding one of the characters.  I will not tell you who dies since that may spoil the book for you, but parents might want to discuss the issues of death with their children first before they read this book so that they will not become too upset at the death scene in this book.

“McFig and McFly” is a wonderful book about the consequences of being over competitive with other people.  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since smaller children may be a bit upset with the death theme of the book.




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