Book Review: The Day Louis Got Eaten by John Fardell

Book: The Day Louis Got Eaten
Author: John Fardell
Illustrator: John Fardell
Published: 2011
Source: Local Library

Louis and Sarah were out for a bicycle ride one day when--yikes!--Louis got snatched up by a Gulper monster. Lucky for Louis, Sarah knew just what to do in such a situation, and she set off after it, determined to get her brother back. Of course, it complicates matters somewhat when another monster eats the Gulper--and another monster eats that one . . . but don’t underestimate a determined big sister.

Can you tell I enjoyed this book? I really, really did. The matter of fact recitation of disaster, and then Sarah’s practical approach to the problem just tickled the heck out of me. Kids will get a kick out of the nutty details in the pictures (Sarah builds herself various traveling devices out of what she has on hand, and Louis is reading a comic book by flashlight in the monster’s stomach when she finally catches up with him), and the names of the monsters evoke Seuss and Dahl in their melodic nonsense. (Undersnatch! Saber-Toothed Yumper!) I may well do a monster storytime, just for the chance to read this one.