Product Description

"I closed my eyes tightly and sent out a wish
That the peas would somehow disappear from my dish.
And something quite strange and mysterious occurred,
As if somehow... somebody... somewhere had heard."

What do you dread eating the most? For the hero of this story, it's peas. A young boy thinks he's discovered a way to avoid eating his peas-he makes a bargain with a fiendishly funny monster. First the deal is simple: the monster will eat the boy's peas in exchange for his soccer ball. But with each new encounter, the monster's demands escalate. Eventually, our hero faces a daunting decision-can he conquer his loathing for peas or will he lose his most prized possession?

Matt Faulkner's uproariously detailed illustrations and Danny Schnitzlein's Seuss-inspired verse combine to create a clever story about how far we are willing to go to avoid doing the things we hate

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #566152 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-18
• Released on: 2003-09-18
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .44" h x 10.69" w x 9.14" l, .85 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Although couched in bombastic rhyme and grotesque illustrations, Schnitzlein's debut simply rehashes a truism: kids will do anything to avoid eating their greens. In "Night Before Christmas" verse, the boy narrator describes three encounters with a garbage beast, whose "big bloated body was broccoli-green,/ And his breath, when he sneered, reeked of rotten sardines." When the hulking creature proposes to devour the boy's peas in exchange for a soccer ball, the boy accepts. He haggles with the monster at subsequent mealtimes, but when it tries to take his dog, he desperately gulps a pea and has a Green Eggs and Ham epiphany: "That pea didn't taste like I thought that it would./ I had to admit it. That pea tasted good!" Faulkner's (The Moon Clock) fearsome illustrations recall David Catrow's hyperbolic paintings; the bloated monster, which has purple-gray tentacles and an eggplant nose, emerges from the trash and lurks under tables. Yet suspense is controlled by the clockwork verse, which steadily advances toward the boy's revelation and the banishment of the devilish tempter. For an original approach to yucky vegetables, Yaccarino and McCauley's The Lima Bean Monster (Children's Forecasts, July 30) makes a better choice. Ages 4-8.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Gr 1-4-Another yucky food story, this one told in rhyme. And it actually works. The narrator does not want to eat his peas, but risks losing out on dessert. Along comes a food monster that agrees to eat the veggies if the child gives him his soccer ball. That's fine until the dreaded morsels show up again a few days later. The monster drives a hard, Faustian bargain and, naturally, when the stakes become too high, the boy discovers that he likes peas. The rhymes flow, begging to be read aloud. Faulkner has created a truly disgusting monster with hairy feet and icky toenails, covered with slimy vegetables, too big for the page. Children will clamor to hear this one again and again.

Ann Cook, formerly at Winter Park Public Library, FL

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Arcimboldo meets Mad Magazine as a monster that looks like a cross between an octopus and a compost pile bargains with a young narrator willing to sacrifice his prized soccer ball, and even his new bike, rather than eat peas.... there's a Seussian (or Clement Clarke Moore) flavor to the rhymed text.... the rollicking rhythms and madcap, over-the-top art give this... [book] plenty of comic energy."
- Kirkus Reviews