Don't Read This Book!
Gr 1-3–This fractured fairy tale employs a goofy bit of reverse psychology. An ill-tempered, egotistical king encourages readers to keep turning the pages by telling them not to. “I command you to go and read something else!” Why? His story writer (illustrated humorously as a “page”) has lost his notes and the manuscript is not finished. The pair gallop through fairy-tale lands searching for the lost notes, running into a giant, his beanstalk, Red Riding Hood's grandmother's inn, the gingerbread boy, and a pea. Top-notch multimedia illustrations so full of life that the book resembles an animated cartoon redeem the gimmicky premise. The finale offers an abbreviated rendition of “The Princess and the Pea” with parenthetical and referential nods to the king. Some readers will find the bluster and idle threats a hoot, but others might find the humor a bit overdone. Stick with Jon Scieszka's The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (Viking, 1992) or Kevin O'Malley's Once upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude (Walker, 2005) for rip-roaring fun with fairy tales.Sara Lissa Paulson, American Sign Language and English Lower School PS 347, New York City© Copyright 2010.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.