Me Hungry!

by Jeremy Tankard
Candlewick 2008

Edwin the Caveboy is hungry, but Ma and Pa Cavepeople are busy (Pa is trying to figure out how to navigate a peanut with a club, Ma's got a gaggle of younger kids to deal with), so Edwin decides to go hunting for himself!

Rabbit hides, Porcupine is too sharp, Tiger is too mean, it looks like Edwin will go hungry until he comes across a Mastodon who shares his hunger and together they go in search of food. Feasting together on apples, Edwin calls out "We busy!" when called to dinner by his Pa.

Tankard knocked it out of the park last year with Grumpy Bird, his picture book featuring a bird with an attitude problem. This time around the only thing holding back my enthusiasm is that the illustrations feel a bit thin. They're lacking the density, the texture of the multiple layers. Same charming characters, same great, vibrant colors. Same playfulness. Perhaps someone suggested that the backgrounds in Grumpy Bird didn't "track well" with younger readers. I heard someone say that. I scoffed when I heard it, to the dismay of the adult scoffee.

To those who might be worried about Edwin's "cavespeak," believing it might be as horrid as the goo-goo Junie B. Jones dialect, fear not. Everyone in Me Hungry! speaks the patois of subject-verb -- adults, animals, and kids -- implying the early development of language instead of cloying malapropisms. It works, it's fun, nothing cloying about it.

Want to see a recent interview with Jeremy Tankard? You should, he's a great dude, and the Imps over at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast pull together a great one with the man. Go here, and tell them I sent you.

You can also see my interview with Jeremy from a while back here.

Grumpy Bird

by Jeremy Tankard
Scholastic 2007

Everything it promises on first glance, and then some.

Bird wakes up grumpy. His face is priceless. He's too grumpy to fly, so he might as well walk.

He passes sheep. Sheep asks him what he's doing. Grumpy bird says he's walking. Sounds like fun to Sheep so he follows Grumpy Bird.

The same thing happens with Rabbit. And Raccoon. And Beaver. And Fox. Bird doesn't understand why everyone's asking him what he's doing; isn't it obvious?

But then he realizes he's being followed. He stops. He lifts his leg, they lift their legs. He's jumps, they jump. "Hey, this is fun!" Bird forgets he's grumpy. He suggests they all fly back to his nest for a snack. And they do, all of them, fly. And they all seem a bit apprehensive about the worm Bird has to offer them.

The end. And it probably took more words to describe than to read.

Tankard's bright colors, broad brush strokes and overlaid digital collage make this the brightest book you've ever seen. The simplicity of the animals is almost perfect, and Bird's grumpy face (the one inside, not the one on the cover, which is fairly tame) is a combination of a cranky toddler and a disheveled old uncle waking up from a nap -- which, come to think of it, may be the same look.

Everyone knows a Grumpy Bird, most of them are not children. Any of them with a sense of humor will love this. Most people with a sense of humor will love this. I loved this, and I can be pretty cranky myself.