Review: The Book That Eats People

September 7, 2009 Review: The Book That Eats People

This is a cautionary tale about a voracious book that may eat an unfortunate equally voracious and naive reader.  The Book That Eats People by John Perry chronicles the horrific history of a book that, as the title says, eats people. This is that book.  The book warns you not to read, as it’s a particularly nasty-tempted book. If you do, you’ll learn the fate of poor Sammy Ruskin, who was devoured by the pages, and the book’s other two (so far) victims.

Who wouldn’t want to read this book with that cover?  Despite the multiple warnings, read this book.  Kids will love the silly tale of a vicious book that eats people, including a library night guard, and the subsequent attempts to reform it of its cannibal ways.  Adults will appreciate the cleverness, like when the book devours Sammy Ruskin, it’s then entitled “Whatever Happened to Sammy Ruskin?”  It’ll have you both laughing aloud as you read the book how tries to hide its true identity as people-eating book, with a nice safe cover.  You can guess how that turns out.   Gulp.   

The illustrations by Mark Fearing bring each page “alive” with varying typography, a mixed-media style with each image worth a second glance.  Take a sneak look at 2 pages in Layers Magazine

Title: The Book That Eats People
Author: John Perry (illus. by Mark Fearing)
Date: August 2009
Publisher: Tricycle Press
Pages: 38
Format: Hardback

• 2 comments
• Posted under 2009, picture books, review