Like many children, Henry loves books. But Henry doesnt like to read books, he likes to eat them. Big books, picture books, reference books . . . if it has pages, Henry chews them up and swallows (but red ones are his favorite). And the more he eats, the smarter he getshes on his way to being the smartest boy in the world! But one day he feels sick to his stomach. And the information is so jumbled up inside, he cant digest it! Can Henry find a way to enjoy books without using his teeth? With a stunning new artistic style and a die-cut surprise, Oliver Jeffers celebrates the joys of reading in this charming and quirky picture book. Its almost good enough to eat. Starred Review. PreSchool-Grade 3—Henry loves books. In fact, he literally devours them. And the more he eats, the smarter he gets. When he starts eating too many too fast, he can no longer digest them, and their contents get all mixed up. The simple cartoon illustrations twinkle with humor and feeling. Done in paint and pencil on smart backdrops—pages from old books—the pictures set the stage for the quirky story. When forced to give up eating his favorite volumes, Henry eventually learns to enjoy reading them. However, an actual bite taken out of the back cover suggests he still succumbs to the occasional indulgence. This well-done package will charm its audience. The snappy text works well for reading aloud, but older children will enjoy exploring the subtle details hidden in the illustrations and backgrounds.— Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Henry loves books--eating them, that is. The more books he eats, the smarter he becomes, prompting him to devour them at an alarming rate. Henry imagines that if he keeps eating at his current pace, he could eventually become the smartest person on earth. Unfortunately, he starts to get sick from eating so many books, and everything he has learned becomes all jumbled up. Eventually Henry gives up eating books and finds that it can also be satisfying to read them. The text is straightforward and minimal, but Jeffers' illustrations ("created with paint, pencil and Letraset on pages from old books that librarians were getting rid of, the artist found, or people were throwing out") cleverly convey why Henry might find books so enticing. The cover is a pleasing shade of chocolate, and many of the pages look good enough to eat, with print, lines, and texture from the recycled book pages cropping up in unlikely places (see the front cover of this issue). Children will enjoy sinking their teeth into these detail-rich, delectable pictures. Randall Enos Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Praise for THE INCREDIBLE BOOK EATING BOY * "This well-done package will charm its audience. The snappy text works well for reading aloud, but older children will enjoy exploring the subtle details hidden in the illustrations and backgrounds."-- School Library Journal , starred review Oliver Jeffers (www.oliverjeffersworld.com) makes art and tells stories. His books include How to Catch a Star; Lost and Found , which was the recipient of the prestigious Nestle Children’s Book Prize Gold Award in the U.K. and was later adapted into an award-winning animated film; The Way Back Home; The Incredible Book Eating Boy; The Great Paper Caper; The Heart and the Bottle , which was made into a highly acclaimed iPad application narrated by Helena Bonham Carter; Up and Down, the New York Times bestselling Stuck; The Hueys in the New Sweater, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year; and This Moose Belongs to Me, a New York Times bestseller. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Oliver now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
