[ARC REVIEW] Snack Attack! by Terry Border (@PhilomelBooks)

Title:  Snack Attack!

Author:  Terry Border

Genre:  Children's / Food / Humor / Horror

Year Published: 2019

Year Read:  2019

Publisher: Philomel Books  

Source:  eARC (Edelweiss)

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Some Scary Images)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank Edelweiss and Philomel Books for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Now, I had read a few children’s books that dealt with talking food and how they view human beings.  However, “Snack Attack!” by Terry Border was an extremely unique case where we actually get to see how the food items fear the human beings due to them being eaten by them.  “Snack Attack!” is definitely one book about food that children will definitely get a laugh out of!

The food items Cookie, Pretzel and Cheese Doodle had heard tales about Monster Kids who would come up and eat the food items for snacks.  But these three food items decided to come out of their packages and play around in the kitchen.  But unfortunately, the three food items stumbled upon a note from the Monster Kid’s mother that states that when her child comes back home, he or she can eat some of the snacks when they come home.  It was then that Cookie, Pretzel and Cheese Doodle have to come up with a plan to save themselves from the Monster Kid.

Can the food items escape their gruesome fate?

Read this book to find out!

Wow! Terry Border’s writing and artwork was quite creative and hilarious to look at!  I loved the way that Terry Border made the story both hilarious and intense at the same time as I was laughing along with the food items’ antics while being scared for their survival against the Monster Kid.  I also loved the concept about what would happen if food items become sentient and we get to see from their perspective about how they feel about being eaten by human beings (which is terrifying)!  Terry Border’s artwork was also highly creative as he uses realistic photographs of various food items and kitchen materials, while drawing some slight cartoonish expressions on the food items’ faces to give them some personalities.

Parents should know that there are some scary images in this book that might frighten smaller children.  There are some images that portray what the monster kid would look like from the food items’ point of view and the Monster Kid is often drawn as a terrifying blue creature with a long tongue that slurps up the food items.  Parents might want to read this book first before reading it to their children to see if this book would be okay for them.

Overall, “Snack Attack!” is a truly creative and entertaining book that children who love reading about food in general will definitely enjoy!  I would recommend this book for children ages five and up since there are some scary images that might frighten small children.

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• My Little Sister Ate One Hare by Bill Grossman

• A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon

• Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex

[BOOK REVIEW] There's a Wocket in my Pocket! by Dr. Seuss

Title:  There's a Wocket in my Pocket!

Author:  Dr. Seuss

Genre:  Children's / Fantasy

Year Published: 1974

Year Read:  2010

Publisher:  Beginner Books

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 4+  (One Scary Image)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“There’s a Wocket in my Pocket!” is truly a brilliant book from the creative mind of Dr. Seuss and it is about how a young boy tells the audience about the strange yet fun-loving creatures that live in a young boy’s house.  “There’s a Wocket in my Pocket!” is definitely one of the greatest books about rhyming ever written!

Dr. Seuss has done a splendid job at both writing and illustrating this book.  Dr. Seuss illustrations are truly great and creative as he illustrates the boy with a red outfit and spiky brown hair, which makes him a truly unique character in the book.  Also, the images of the creatures themselves are creative, especially of the images of the nupboards in the cupboards looking furry and yellow and have cotton ball shaped heads.  Dr. Seuss’ story is truly creative as the names that the boy gives to each creature is truly inventive as the names rhyme with various furniture that the creatures associate with such as the yeps on the steps and the vug under the rug.

“There’s a Wocket in my Pocket!” is a brilliant book that children will easily love for many years.  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since the image of the vug under the rug might scare smaller children.

You might also like:

• Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss

• The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss

• Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? by Dr. Seuss

[BOOK REVIEW] And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss

Title:  And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street

Author:  Dr. Seuss

Genre:  Children's / Fantasy

Year Published: 1937

Year Read:  2019

Publisher:  Vanguard Press, Inc.   

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 5+  (One Offensive Image)

Buy on: Amazon  //  Book Depository

I have been reading Dr. Seuss’s works ever since I was a child (it is pretty much a requirement as a child to read a Dr. Seuss book). So of course, I still have not read all of Dr. Seuss’s works and one of the books that I had owned ever since I was little, but I never really read was “And to Think that I Saw it On Mulberry Street!”  I only picked up this book after all of these years when some of my Goodreads friends had recommended it to me and I must say that it was quite a decent beginning for Dr. Seuss’s early works.

The story starts off with Marco’s father telling Marco to keep his eyelids up and see the things he can see on the street.  So, when Marco walked down Mulberry Street, he noticed a horse pulling a broken-down wagon down the street.  Marco thought that this sight was too boring and he started to imagine seeing more lavish decorations to the horse and wagon such as imagining it as a chariot being pulled by a reindeer or a sleigh being pulled by a large blue elephant with a Rajah riding on the elephant.

I have been reading many of Dr. Seuss’s works ever since I was a child and this book just happened to pass under the radar for me at the time.  It is amazing in seeing how Dr. Seuss’s earlier works differs heavily from his later works (for one thing, Dr. Seuss’s earlier works are a lot wordier than his later works).  So, of course I was a bit curious about seeing how this early work of Dr. Seuss’s would turn out and I ended up being quite interested in the subtle yet creative storytelling of this book!  Dr. Seuss had done a great job at writing this story as the story explores how far Marco’s imagination can go and teaches the reader about the beauty of having a vivid imagination. I loved the scenes of Marco using his imagination to make the sight of Mulberry Street much more interesting as it made the scenes much more entertaining to look at.  I especially loved the scenes of Marco imagining a musical band being pulled by a blue elephant as it was such a creative sight to see!

The reason why I took off half a point from the rating was because while the story was quite creative, I do not think that this book was as memorable as some of Dr. Seuss’s later works.  For one thing, the writing is much lengthier than most of Dr. Seuss’s works and that can make this book a bit of chore to read through. Also, this book does not have Dr. Seuss’s signature odd creatures that usually appear in his books (with the exception of the blue elephant).  There is also a controversial image in this book of a Chinese boy being shown as an offensive stereotype of Asians that might offend some people (although this book was written during the 1930s).

Overall, “And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street” is a great introduction to Dr. Seuss’s earlier works and would be a great read for children who are huge fans of Dr. Seuss’s works!  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the portrayal of the Chinese boy might offend some people.

You might also like:

• The King's Stilts by Dr. Seuss

• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

• Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss

[BOOK REVIEW] Great Day for Up by Dr. Seuss

Title:  Great Day for Up

Author:  Dr. Seuss

Artist: Quentin Blake

Genre:  Humor / Inspiration / Children's

Year Published: 1974

Year Read:  1992 (Re Read: 2018)

Publisher:  Beginner Books

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 3+  (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Now, I have been reading Dr. Seuss’ books for DECADES now and I think that I have almost read all of the books that were written by Dr. Seuss (told you I have been reading his books for DECADES)! This also includes the books that Dr. Seuss wrote, but did not illustrate as there were some other artists that illustrated Dr. Seuss’ works, such as Lane Smith’s artwork in Dr. Seuss’ book “Hooray For Diffendoofer Day!”  “Great Day for Up” is another book that was written by Dr. Seuss, but has artwork by Quentin Blake, who was well known for his artwork in Roald Dahl’s children’s books and it was quite an interesting read!

This book is basically about the narrator encouraging everyone around the world to get up in the morning and approach a new day with a smile on their faces!

Dr. Seuss had done a great job at writing this book as the verses are short, creative and silly and I often found myself giggling at the crazy verses about the people in the book getting up in the morning, such as this cute little verse:

“Up, whales!

Up, snails!

Up, rooster!

Hen!

Up!

Girls and women!

Boys and men!”

I also liked the fact that this book is similar to Dr. Seuss’ other work “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” as it is another book that reinforces positivity for yourself and that you should get up and go out into the world to do the things that you really want to do.  I also loved the ending of this book as it was probably the most hilarious moment in the book and I definitely recommend that you read the ending for yourselves to see what I mean!  I must admit that I do find Quentin Blake’s artwork to be adorable to look at in this book as all the characters are rendered in a slightly scratchy look and look a bit exaggerated with their expressions, which is something I have always enjoyed about Quentin Blake’s artwork.  I also enjoyed seeing the images of the various characters jumping around excitedly at the approaching new day upon them.

The reason why I gave this book a four-star rating was because even though I thought that Quentin Blake’s artwork was cute, I personally think that it looked a bit out of place in a Dr. Seuss book, even though I was alright with Lane Smith’s artwork in “Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!”  I guess I was so used to Dr. Seuss doing the artwork for his own books that seeing another artist do the artwork for his books kind of threw me off a bit.

Overall, “Great Day for Up” is a truly cute book about getting up in the mornings to approach a new day ahead of you that children will definitely be inspired by!  I would recommend this book to children ages three and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

You might also like:

• Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? by Dr. Seuss

• Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss

• The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss

[BOOK REVIEW] More Spaghetti, I Say! by Rita Golden Gelman

Title:  More Spaghetti, I Say!

Author:  Rita Golden Gelman

Artist:  Jack Kent

Genre:  Animals / Humor / Food / Friendship

Year Published: 1977

Year Read:  1990 (Re Read: 2018)

Publisher:  Scholastic Inc.

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 4+  (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

This is yet another special review where I review one of my most favorite books from my childhood in rhyme, since this particular children’s book is told in a rhyme!

There were two monkeys named Minnie and Freddy,   

Freddy wanted to play, all excited and ready.

But all Minnie wanted was her precious SPAGHETTI,

She wanted that spaghetti more than she wanted to play with Freddy.

More Spaghetti, I say, said Minnie, all happy,

Although Freddy was thinking this was getting too sappy.

With that spaghetti, Minnie did all kinds of things,

Including putting spaghetti on pancakes and ice cream, Minnie sings.

Can Freddy get Minnie off her spaghetti fever?

Read this book just to see her!                                                                                          

Rita Golden Gelman’s writing was just so fun!

I could read this book all day in the sun.

This book made me want to eat some more spaghetti,

If I could eat a thousand bowls of spaghetti, then I am ready!

Minnie and Freddy’s dialogue with each other was wacky and witty!

I wish I had a wacky friend like Minnie in the city!

Although I think it is weird to put spaghetti on everything,

Which just goes to show how wacky this book really is, I sing.

Jack Kent’s artwork is such a delight to see!

All the characters are as cute as can be!

I love the images of spaghetti everywhere,

It really features the prominence of spaghetti in the air!

So overall, “More Spaghetti, I Say!” was such a joy to read!

It is definitely a fantastic book with these words that I heed.

Children everywhere will definitely love the wackiness of this book,

For children ages four and up, it is definitely worth a look!

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• Old Black Fly by Jim Aylesworth

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