Review Detail

A Delicious Story

Kids Fiction 510

When you eat your words...

April 30, 2023 (Updated: May 04, 2023)

Overall rating

3.5

Plot

3.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

3.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

A young mouse is looking for the story in his book, but it's not there. He talks to a bigger mouse who is there who doesn't want to talk about the fact that none of the words and pictures that were around previously are still there. He helps the younger mouse look, but has to confess that he ate the story! The bigger mouse tries unsuccessfully to make up a story on his own but can't work well under pressure. The two mice work together to come up with a story, going in and out of the center of the book, and eventually come up with a tale with some surprises in it. Their story continues onto the endpapers of the book!

Good Points

There is a lot of white space in this book; the mice have heavy borders and light coloring, and the grays and black, with a tiny bit of pink for the noses, are the only colors for most of the book. The words are very large, which will make this a quick read. The way that the mice delve into the center of the book is visually arresting, and will be amusing to young readers.

Encouraging story telling and writing is so important for children, and there is a lot of good information about the creative process in this book, even though the text is very simple. One of my favorites is Kramer's Tell Me a Lion Story, and this would be a good companion to that one. In Kramer's book, there is more of a framework for the story, but in Saltzburg's, the mice have to come up with even the topic of their story!

I can see this book also being used in a classroom setting to help with the creative process. Use A Delicious Story to inspire creativity along with books like The Best Story by Eileen Spinelli, Ralph Tells a Story by Abby Hanlon, and Idea Jar by Adam Lehrhaupt.