ONE CHICKEN NUGGET

A monster’s passion for chicken nuggets is tested in this retelling of “The Legend of Sissa ibn Dahir,” an Indian folktale centered on the concept of exponential growth.

Frank, a furry, purple monster, loves chicken nuggets, and he’s found the greatest nuggets in the world in Celeste’s food truck. But Celeste, a Black-presenting human, finds that Frank is bad for business, from his atrocious table manners to the way he scares away her paying customers. After trying a series of failed solutions—illustrated in comedic vignettes—Celeste launches a monthlong, double-or-nothing contest: Each day, the amount of nuggets participants must consume doubles, and the prize is free nuggets for life. Day 1 is easy (a single nugget!), but as the contest gets exponentially harder, more competitors drop out, leaving Frank as the last eater standing. Lively, animated illustrations depict daily crowds that watch to see if Frank can continue to eat millions of nuggets. By the final days, Celeste’s food truck is pushed to its limits, and even Frank has started struggling—especially when faced with the final day’s double-page-spread mountain of nuggets. Frank’s near-triumph and concession—what good are nuggets for life if one is thoroughly sick of them?—involve dynamic crowds and a delightfully monstrous belch. A final joke will tickle readers, and excellent endnotes contextualize exponential numbers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Delicious to the last morsel.