Amazon.com Review
"OK, so I'm Uncle Blubbafink. Hello already." Gruff introduction aside, you'll soon find yourself glad you met this strange, suspendered, striped-schnozzed creature with a funny-sounding name. Not only does "your old Uncle Blub" have all sorts of seriously ridiculous stories ("millions of 'em," in fact), but they're all true. Would he make them up? "Of course not... I like you too much."
Before you can even catch your breath, Blub launches into four true (or at least truly peculiar) stories, starting with how he and Abraham Sandwich used to surf together back in '67, only to find themselves lunch-less after George Washing Machine ("a funny little guy who looked like a washing machine with skinny legs") chopped down all of Abraham's ham trees ("that's the kinda guy he was"). After that comes the story of a young volcano raised by squawking chickens, then the tale of Dave the dragon whose head turned into a station wagon, and finally the truth behind how cows completely mowed down the moon. ("Cows. They're so weird.")
"Renowned intellectual and former javelin thrower" Keith Graves certainly sets his own style (presumably due to some sort of radioactive spider bite or military brain-wave experiment), but fans of Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith's The Stinky Cheese Man and similar stories will be pleased with what they find here, both in storytelling and illustration method. Whether it's a tiny dragon shaving-cream can or a jubilant dance circle of goofy-walking chickens (plus one buck-toothed volcano), you just know that Graves is onto--or at least on--something. (Ages 9 to 12) --Paul Hughes
From Publishers Weekly
Graves employs the palette and outrageous humor of his Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance for this nutty volume. "OK, so I'm Uncle Blubbafink. Hello already," growls the title character, a prunish purple guy with a black-and-white-striped elephant trunk and pigeon feet. Blubbafink launches into a nonsense story called "Abraham Sandwich and George Washing Machine," in which a guy in a stovepipe hat (known as "Honest Ham," not "Abe") gets angry when George chops down his ham trees. Next, Blubbafink recounts "The Legend of Smoky the Volcano," about a ferrous-red "volcano pup" who grows too big to keep: "I took Smoky back to his natural habitat and set him free." In another tale he explains that cows say "moo" because they come from the moon. The gnomish Blubbafink appears as both raconteur and actor in the grainy, absurd images, painted in a palette of bilious green and plum violet. Deadpan storybook titles, like "The Dragon Whose Head Was a Station Wagon," juxtapose familiar characters and bizarre elements; variable typefaces blare across the pages, adding to the cacophony. This absurd quartet of tales will appeal to those who find Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith a little too logical. Ages 7-10.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
