Simply Delicious! [Hardcover]

Margaret Mahy (Author), Sara S. Miller (Author), Jonathan Allen (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up

A resourceful father engages in all kinds of acrobatic moves to keep an assortment of jungle creatures from getting the double-dip-chocolate-chip-and-cherry ice cream cone he is taking home to his son.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2 Mr. Minky is on his way home when he stops at Muffin's Corner Shop to buy a treat for his son. He purchases a "double-dip-chocolate-chip-and-cherry ice cream with rainbow twinkles and chopped-nut sprinkles." How will he get it home before it melts? By taking a shortcut through the jungle! Riding his bike through the "lumpy. bumpy, jungle track," he is challenged by butterflies, a toucan, a spider monkey, a tiger, and a crocodile. It takes some creative juggling and ferocious footwork on his bike, but Mr. Minky and his ice cream make it home in time. Mahy has fun with the rhythm of her story, with each animal repeating the long name of the treat, and ending with a chorus of "simply delicious!" The story should be read aloud, as young listeners will readily chime in and add their voices to the refrain. The illustrations are crisp, colorful, and childlike with jungle greens spreading out over white backgrounds and polka-dotted butterflies flitting after the elusive speckled cone. Pair this with Shel Silverstein's poem "Eighteen Flavors" for a simply delicious storytime double scoop. Lisa Gangemi Krapp, Rockville Centre Public Library, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Mr. Minky has a problem. He's just bought a double-dip chocolate-chip-and-cherry ice cream cone with rainbow twinkles and chopped sprinkles for his little boy, Finnegan. But how is he to get it home before it melts? "I know!" he declares. "I'll take a short cut down the lumpy, bumpy jungle track. It runs right into my own back garden." So off he goes on his faithful bike, holding the cone aloft like the Statue of Liberty's torch, waving it around to keep it cool. This soon attracts the attention of a growing number of hungry jungle animals. With them in hot pursuit, Mr. Minky resorts to some inspired ice cream acrobatics to save the sweet treat. Mahy's cumulative tale is inherently suspenseful and, with its own sprinkling of alliteration, will be great fun to read aloud. Illustrator Allen, who has collaborated with Mahy twice before, captures the rhythm of the text and adds to the fun with droll depictions of the devious--and persistent--jungle denizens. Michael Cart

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Orchard Books (NY) (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531301818
• ISBN-13: 978-0531301814
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 9.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,805,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Margaret Mahy lives in New Zealand and is internationally acknowledged as one of the most outstanding children's writers today. She is the author of more than two hundred books for children of all ages, two of which have received England's Carnegie Medal and others of which have garnered numerous citations from the American Library Association. She is also the recipient of An Order of New Zealand, the highest honor a citizen can receive. In 2006 she received the Hans Christian Andersen award for her contributions to international children's literature.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful story about protecting an ice cream cone, June 8, 2000

By 

Richard E. Adams (Kent, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Simply Delicious! (Hardcover)

If having your 5 year old request that you read a book again and again until he knows the story by heart is your definition of a good children's book, then this is the book for you. The story is simply about a father who buys an ice cream cone for his son and has to get home before it melts. There is a short-cut through the jungle. Along the bumpy path, the father has to protect the "simply delicious" ice cream from a number of animals. The play on words and the father's attempts to protect his precious cone are extremely funny. The pictures add to the enjoyment. My 5 year old son asked me to read the story so many times that he memorized it. A great book to enjoy with your children. The title says it all.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars word play, January 16, 2004

By 

cammykitty "cammykitty" (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Simply Delicious! (Hardcover)

The story is pretty simple: Mr. Minky rides his bike down a jungle path to get an icecream cone home for his boy before it melts. The story gets its charm from Mahy's trademark word play -- double dip chocolate chip with cherry etc etc. This book rhythmically sounds a bit like Dr. Seuss. Kids will love the animals that all want the icecream cone, but the illustrations aren't ever going to win a Caldecott award. The butterflies look quite elephantine, and Mr. Minkey's pie and pudding looks more like mashed lentils with green peas. So if you have a child who loves animals and the sound of words, this may be a good book. If your kids are looking for arresting pictures, they'll be turning the page on you before you can finish reading it.

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Candy Coated World of Make Believe, October 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Simply Delicious! (Hardcover)

Madonna, who now has read and written children books said it best when she said, "I read a lot of children books and really they're about nothing. They teach children to think little and be pretty, and they rarely teach a moral lesson." This book is in the former category. It's a candy coated treatment of the world, and quite unengaging and limited in both scope and content. Have your children read Grimm's fairytales or else Aesop's Fables. At least in those pages they will learn something of value. It certainly beats this brain dead literature.