FICTION

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to School

by Davide CALI
illus. by Benjamin Chaud. 44p. Chronicle. Mar. 2015. Tr $12.99. ISBN 9781452131689.
COPY ISBN
K-Gr 2—The young hero of I Did Not Do My Homework Because…(Chronicle, 2014) is back, this time with inventive reasons why he was late for school. The fantastical tale has it all—giant ants that steal his breakfast, a ninja attack, an encounter with Yeti and Bigfoot, invading aliens, and many other unlikely escapades. A clever twist at the end involving a time machine and dinosaurs imparts unexpected credibility to the boy's story. The plot might be somewhat tenuous and the series of events seemingly random, but nonetheless are true to how a child's runaway imagination might work. Chaud's signature cartoon illustrations delight with eccentric and humorous details on every page, the expressions of the protagonist's canine companion especially silly and fun to follow.
VERDICT Best suited for a personal perusal or one-on-one sharing due to its small format, this book will appeal to fans of Cali and Chaud's previous work as well as those who appreciate a whimsical romp.
Reviewed by Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY
The author-illustrator team behind I Didn't Do My Homework Because... brings us another litany-of-excuses picture book, here a drawn-out explanation of why a child is late to school. There's humor in the nonsensical string of diversions, but there's not much transition from one to the next. Chaud's fine-lined cartoons contain lots of surreal, clever details (including a final twist behind the teacher's back).
, Mar 01, 2015

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