From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 1 As in
Too Purpley! (Bloomsbury, 2010), Reidy and Leloup's story features a fussy child. This time, it's a boy who is an extremely picky eater. I am hungry! he declares as he sits at the table, bib in place. But he finds fault with every type of food put in front of him Too wrinkly,/too squishy,/too fruity,/too fishy although the little furry pal at his side seems game to try them all. With so many options being shot down (including desserts) one begins to wonder if the child will find anything worth eating. Finally, on the last page, he pronounces something, So yummy! All done. Unfortunately, since his plate is clean, readers don't find out what that perfect food is, and this abrupt ending is somewhat jarring. Leloup's bright, digitally mastered illustrations keep up with the comic pace of Reidy's bouncy rhymes. Fans of the first book, as well as the Berenstains'
Old Hat New Hat (Random, 1970), will enjoy the exaggerated humor of this hard-to-please youngster.
Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The girl who finds fault with page after page of outfits in Reidy and Leloup’s Too Purpley! (2010) has a counterpart in this book about a hungry boy who is repelled by all sorts of food because they are “too” something or other. Raisins are “too wrinkly,” soup is “too slurpy,” and soda is “too burpy.” The rhyming text climaxes with “too pee-yooey!” when a large bowl with questionable ingredients is presented. Apparently the persnickety child finds something agreeable, as the next page shows the boy with a cleaned plate, a happy face, and the words, “So yummy! All done.” Whatever it was he ate so quickly, we don’t get to see it, which is a bit odd. The irascible illustrations placed on brilliantly colored pages vividly show the amusing antics of the freckle-faced boy and his hamster sidekick, earning this a place among the glut of picture books about picky eaters (Mary Ann Hoberman’s The Seven Silly Eaters, 1997, and Alan Durant’s Burger Boy, 2005, to name just two). Preschool-Kindergarten. --Randall Enos
