Customer Reviews

Ice-Cream Larry

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The former "Bongo Larry" returns as "Ice Cream Larry" in this delightful continuation of the Pinkwaters' series about the multi-talented polar bear. Jill Pinkwater's vivid, varied colors (pen and ink, and colored marker) and Daniel Pinkwater's droll prose combine for another hit. Here, Larry gets in trouble after eating 250 pounds of ice cream from the walk-in freezer at Cohen's Cones. Larry is full of excuses, including a claim that he ate the ice cream in his sleep! After hearing of his exploits ("Bear eats 1/8 Ton Ice Cream"), Mr. I. Berg comes to the Hotel Larry with a proposition to enhance the reputation of the Iceberg Ice-Cream Company: A new line of Larry ice cream bars, including codfish flavor. Somehow it all goes well, even with the company's dubious new slogan--a quote from Larry--"I do not feel sick!"

This is a simple yet very entertaining story that succeeds because of the dry humor that Pinkwater injects throughout the book. There's a bit of a wink to the reader, but it's never too obvious or condescending--Pinkwater plays it straight. Just about as good as "Bongo Larry," and printed on high quality paper with excellent illustrations, this would be an excellent gift for any animal/ice cream lover that you know.

I am a kindergarten teacher, and while my students enjoy this book, I don't think they like it more than I do. I read this book to my husband and teen-aged sons, and have read it for my own pleasure many times. I think this book could be well used in a high school English class when discussing tone or comic timing. I only wish that the Larry books would come out in paperback so that more people could enjoy them, and that another old Pinkwater favorite, Roger's Umbrella,were still in print.

Ice Cream Larry is one of a series of books about Larry, a polar bear, who lives at a hotel and works as a lifeguard at the hotel pool. Larry has never eaten a human being, but he is always hungry, and in this book he eats 250 pounds of ice cream and wants more. His greed leads him to fame as the spokesbear of the Iceberg Ice Cream company and a new product is named after him. The Larry Bar comes in many flavors including blueberry and codfish. The Larry books are hilarious, and the illustrations colorful and engaging. I have read this book many, many times to my 3-year old, who never gets tired of Larry's antics with his brother Roy and his friends at the hotel, the Frobishers... The phrase "And I don't feel sick!" has become one of our standard jokes when we eat ice cream (or anything else we like a lot!)

In Canada, we hear of Polar Bears invading the towns close to the North Pole. As global warming becomes more of a reality each year, the Polar Bears actually have to be escorted out of Churchill, (Alberta?) so that small children or pets aren't attacked. Back to the book -- this is a sweet look at emotions that children can relate to, when this polar bear finds himself in unfamiliar territory, trying to survive.

Children love the silly paradox of a polar bear at the beach, and I love reading the book to them!

This is my first Larry book and it would be a better one to check out from your library, in my opinion. The story didn't hold my children's attention, nor was it as clever as I had hoped.