  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 02/01/2016 K-Gr 2—As Eenie and Meenie start cooking, they are shocked to find their missing friend Harold's sword and shield in their stove. Eenie comically cooks up ridiculous stories about why a shield could possibly be in their stove, while frantic Meenie continues to pull out additional items from their oven. The final punch line, which solves the mystery and ends the book, seems to come out of left field, which will leave some scratching their heads and others doubled over in laughter. The two cooks play off each other well, with grumpy Meenie trying to explain the situation to scatterbrained Eenie, making it an easy transition for a storytime. However, the joke is a bit one-note and hurried. Dormer's illustrations, often more conventional in other books, here take a simplistic, Oliver Jeffers-like approach. His choice to use a basic color palette against a mostly plain white background keeps the focus on the characters's dramatic facial expressions and size differences, which adds to the humor of the piece. VERDICT A hilarious addition to any picture book collection.—Peter Blenski, Greenfield Public Library, WI - Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 05/01/2016 Wandering in even before the copyright page, two chefs and a knight make a comical entrance into this picture book. The knight, Harold, runs ahead, since he has to go to the potty. When the chefs, one tall and one short, get to the kitchen, Harold is still missing, and they find something terribly strange: there’s a sword in the stove! They also find a shield and a helmet in the stove, and for each new discovery, the tall chef imagines wacky explanations, while the short chef sensibly argues that they must be Harold’s. But where is Harold, and why would he leave his armor in the oven? A surprising, fiery appearance reveals the answer, and the three friends are, well, not quite happily reunited in the end. Dormer’s loose, deceptively simple watercolor figures, composed of blocky shapes and hilarious, over-the-top facial expressions, are a great match for the absurd, slapstick comedy. It may lack in logic, but the comedic timing makes this a tasty treat for kids who love screwy fun. - Copyright 2016 Booklist. Loading...
 |