DINING WITH...MONSTERS!
A Disgusting Way to Count to 10!
by Agnese Baruzzi ; illustrated by Agnese Baruzzi
Ten monsters open wide to show what’s in their mouths. Picky eaters had best steer clear.
Introduced on the opening spread and bearing evocative names like “Slimy-Sloppers,” “Grisly-Bess,” or “Mr. One-Eye Not-So-Nice,” Baruzzi’s leering cartoon creatures flash sharp teeth and anywhere from one staring eye to 20. Each monster’s face then fills a subsequent spread, and viewers intrepid enough to open the gatefold maws will be treated to the sight of short but fetching rhymes plus increasing numbers of enticing tidbits from “1 spider whole” and “2 leaping frogs” to “9 beetles, yes!” and “10 poor grasshoppers.” Happily, Baruzzi doesn’t really go for the gross à la Jo Lodge in Icky Sticky Monster (2012) or Megan McDonald and Jane Manning in Beetle McGrady Eats Bugs (2005). Furthermore, along with opting to enumerate food animals that are only equivocally revolting, she depicts no actual chomping, so counting the critters is an uncomplicated task.
Comfortably mild yucks for younger enumerators who aren’t yet up to, for instance, French cuisine.
(Novelty. 3-5)