Customer Reviews

The Shivers in the Fridge

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

 

 

*STARRED REVIEW--KIRKUS REVIEWS, October 1, 2006
What if a family of five kitchen magnets were marooned in the fridge with only their cardboard box for warmth? Manushkin's sparkling mix of folkloric repetition, funny dialogue and--"PHOOMPH!!!"--perfectly chosen sound effects, cleverly withholds its punch line till the end. All day, the Shivers face predictable but rattling events: quaking rumbles, blazes of light, "monsters" that "reached out, reached out" to snatch away bits of the foodscape. One by one, each Shiver--by design or accident--is whisked off to an uncertain fate. (In a hilarious union of art and text, Mama cavorts in warm Emerald Lake--only to stick fast as the gelatin sets: "Emerald Lake, Jolly Whip--and MAMA!--were gone.") The antic mixed media spreads hum: Compositions agreeably evoke Paul Galdone with fresh, original garnishes. Zelinsky runs with the authorial metaphor, depicting the fridge contents as a skewed, teeming village--where a milk carton's top is a pitched roof, and broccoli's a tree. From endpapers on, hidden visual clues hint at the Shivers' magnetic personalities. Cool ingredients for read-aloud laughs.

*STARRED REVIEW--Publication: Booklist, Issue Date: October 15, 2006 - Ilene Cooper
Mother, father, grandmother, grandfather and one small boy are freezing cold. Although they vaguely remember another time when they were standing tall, now they must contend with darkness, earthquakes and monsters plucking things from their frigid home. It will be fun to see how long it takes preschoolers to figure out that the family is living in the refrigerator--and that they are magnets. Manushkin tells their story in colorful language and with a high humor. The family must travel through Egg Valley and beware of Buttery Cliff. Emerald Lake is swimmable until it hardens into a gelatin. There's a wonderful repeat in the story as one by one, each of the family members decide they must find a warmer place to live, attaching themselves to places like "the scary jungle" (a bunch of celery). The story's humor is matched by Zelinsky's inventive artwork that picks up on the wit and slyness of the text. As the family moves through the world that is the fridge, hands come out of nowhere, dreams of happy families mingle with stalks of broccoli, and the boy can stand on a mountain of grapes. Drawn with a frisson that might make readers shiver, these are pictures meant to be looked at again and again. Those who do may figure out how the family found themselves out in the cold.

Once upon a time there was a little family that was trying to live in the fridge. But it was so cold, and periodically monsters would reach into the fridge and take things out. The family stayed together and comforted each other...until the day the family members began to be taken out by the monsters!

This was a very fun and silly book. Yes, you realize that something is up (I mean, I don't *think* that there are any little people living in my fridge!), but the ending really makes you laugh! My five-year-old daughter thought that this was a great book, and we both recommend it. Give it a read yourself, you'll be surprised at how good it is.

My 5-yr-old read this at preschool and requested that we get it at home. It's a pretty offbeat book with a great surprise ending. Fun!

The text is a little complicated for my 2nd graders, but it makes a great read-aloud.

I love the art in THE SHIVERS IN THE FRIDGE, and librarian friends of mine have told me that children are getting a kick out of it as well. They love its wit and sense of play. The New York Times also praised the artwork, saying, "Zelinsky's illustrations are pitch perfect for this comically surreal scenario. Young readers should enjoy puzzling out pictures of towering milk cartons and celery jungles long after they're clued in to the laugh-out-loud solution to the mystery." But judge for yourself! Here's a link to Mr. Zelinsky's Web site, showing a charming animation based on the book. [...]

Don't take my word for it -- here's the text.

Here's what the men do and say:

Papa: "Boldly Papa marched into the darkness"

Grandpa: '...Grandpa declared "Maybe Mama's right and there is a place we
can stand tall" '... Grandpa began his daring journey."

Sonny: "No more cold feet for me!" [Sonny] decided "I'm going to face
those monsters and make them give my family back!"

What about Mama, does she go bravely adventuring? She does not. She
takes a nice "warm" and "comfy" bath in green jello, get's stuck, then
get's removed from the fridge.

And what is Grandma doing? Hiding. Kicking, knee-ing and poking Mama,
when Mama tells encouraging bedtime stories. I love having complex evil
female characters, but the overwhelming message in this book is that
male-type people overcome their fears and venture out, female-type people
don't.

When I think of Paul Zelinsky I think of shiny gold thread spun onto spindles, thick lustrous hair cascading down a tower's wall, and maybe even a glimpse of early Americana involving a certain tall tale. Basically, Zelinsky's a picture book chameleon. You never know exactly what kind of style is going to erupt from his pen next. In 2006 he pulled that magnificent Emily Jenkins book, "Toys Go Out" out of his bag. This was soon followed up by "The Shivers In the Fridge", and is a colorful unexpected style and story. Author Fran Manushkin has quite a few books under her belt already, but I daresay that aside from the George Foreman picture book she helped out on, this may well be her best-known work yet. Good thing too, as the story is a rather engaging romp through iceboxes both cold and mysterious.

Something isn't right but the Shivers family can't quite put their finger on what it is. Sonny, his mom and dad, and Grandma and Grandpa have been living in a perpetually cold and dark space for quite a while, and they're having a hard time remembering what it's like to be warm. This soon becomes the least of their concerns, however, when unexpectedly and without warning, an enormous hand keeps appearing out of nowhere to snatch various family members away. First Papa disappears when scaling Buttery Cliff. Later Mama meets a similar fate when she takes a warm dip in the fast solidifying "Emerald Lake". By the end, only Sonny is left. Gathering his courage, the young `un is snatched out of the cold ... to find his family members are all safe and warm. The Shivers are actually refrigerator magnets, and now they get to do what magnets do best. Stay on the outside of the fridge.

A good thing they never had to deal with mold, eh? Now I'm gonna level with you here. This is a thoroughly enjoyable book and a great little story, but I've a quibble with the art. I know, I know. Criticizing a Paul O. Zelinsky production is tantamount to criticizing Picasso in his blue period. Zelinsky's meticulous attention to detail is legendary. The man has what it takes to bring everything from classic storytime singalongs to animated stuffed animals to rich, vibrant life. I can't continue, then, unless I confess something to you. You know his early work? I'm not talking his "Dear Mr. Henshaw"/"Strider" period, but the "Rapunzel"/"Rumplestiltskin" era. THAT, to me, was his best work. I loved watching the man replicate the style of the old masters. Oh sure, I could appreciate his cross-hatching pen-and-ink style too, but give that man a set of oils and watch what he can do with them. Whoof! "The Wheels On the Bus" always kinda stuck in my craw. Obviously if you've Zelinsky's talent, you're not going to imbue everything you illustrate with the same style. In the case of "The Shivers In the Fridge", Zelinsky creates a world both familiar and unfamiliar to children. His colors are bright, cheery, and constantly appealing to the old eyeballs. So what's my petty objection? Am I going to whine and moan over the fact that, in this particular case, Zelinsky has selected a style of drawing that does not appeal to me in the least? Yes. Fortunately, you don't have to suffer my fate. Simply take a glance at the cover and ascertain whether or not it pleases you. Either A) The cover is hunky-dory/cute as a bug's ear and I'm a raving loon or B) You can see my point of view, but I'm obviously thinking too much about a picture book or C) You agree with me entirely and hang on my every word. Whatever your choice, I would like to assure you that Zelinsky has by no means dropped the ball on this book. He seems to have put just as much work into it as any other title in his oeuvre. It's just not my bag, baby.

The melding of text and image is, in this case, seamless. Even if the characters in the book are clueless as to their surroundings, child readers will pick up on what's happening immediately (if not being entirely certain as to what The Shivers really are). It's here that Manushkin's writing stands out. First of all, there's something great about the fact that the character of Grandma is a nasty, negative, perpetually sour old coot. She can't stop moaning and groaning about any and everything. Dull authors make all their characters indistinguishable and nothing grabs a child reader properly like a little character conflict. Just put an antagonist into your story like Grandma and watch the child to book interest ratio increase respectively. As professional reviews have noted, the humor in the story cancels out any vague fears your preschooler might have about the tale. Best of all, Manushkin taps into a love that all kids can get behind: Living in a world of gigantic food. How cool (no pun intended) is that?

I do not recommend that you read this book in the frigid months of winter, by the way. Just glancing through the book myself I found myself shivering right along with the family in the fridge. No, this would be a title better suited for those hot and lazy summer months. Pull this puppy out when the high heat of July renders children limp and prepped for a good cold-weather story or two. As tales about refrigerator magnets go, I just can't think of another book that speaks to their plight quite as eloquently as this. Here's hoping that in the sequel The Shivers do battle with a home computer. Fun fun fun.