Review by Booklist Review
In this ode to imagination (and vegetables), a group of grinning, brightly colored Godzillas gleefully rampage across the country to prove just how far their distaste for broccoli stretches. The waitress in this restaurant just doesn't have a clue, the book begins. Monsters don't eat broccoli! How could she think we do? Off they go to the grocery store, where instead of food, the shelves are stocked with trucks and skyscrapers, perfect for snacking. Also good eatin': trailer homes, rocket ships, boulders, boats really, anything but veggies. Hendra's adorable cutout illustrations have an almost pop-art zeal and hit a goofy zenith when the monsters stare appalled at a plate of greens (and we see an undigested car adrift inside one monster's horrified gape). Their contented refrain of Fum, foe, fie, fee, monsters don't eat broccoli gets derailed, however, when they realize those giant maple trees they've been devouring are actually broccoli and that they're not monsters; they're children. Kids may be suspicious at the Another helping, please conclusion, but that won't prevent a second reading.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"Fum, foe, fie, fee, monsters don't eat broccoli!" With a toe-tapping beat and loud, splashy spreads, this paean to mealtime chaos will charm small monsters everywhere. The monsters in Hendra's paintings are lumpy, friendly-looking things who stomp through cities and forests, refusing broccoli in favor of more appetizing fare: "We'd rather snack on tractors/ or a rocket ship or two,/ or tender trailer tidbits,/ or a wheely, steely stew." They roam through a monster grocery store past shelves of multicolored construction vehicles ("3 for 2 tractors") and skyscrapers; in another scene they perch on cliffs while fishing for boats ("we crave our fish 'n' ships"). In the final spreads, two picnicking monsters (one striped, the other with polka dots) are revealed to be a pair of children, munching not on maple trees but on-wait for it-broccoli florets ("And WOW are they delicious!/ Another helping, please"). Hicks's (The Secret Life of Walter Kitty) message about healthy eating comes off comic, not preachy. Too much fun to limit to kids who don't like broccoli. Ages 5-8. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-Grown-ups know that kids generally don't like eating broccoli. Apparently, neither do monsters. Sure, they like tractors, rocket ships, and boulders. Only don't give them artichokes, lima beans, or anything green. When the "monsters" eat giant maple trees, though, they discover they have been fooled into eating the dreaded broccoli. The next spread reveals that the monsters are children who have fallen for that age-old adult trick of calling broccoli "trees." Not only that, but they also discover that "trees" are so delicious, they beg for "Another helping, please." For the most part, the rhyming text flows nicely when read aloud but it stumbles when the monsters repeatedly shout, "Fum,/foe,/fie,/fee,/monsters don't eat broccoli." The gouache illustrations are bright and textured; they pop off the page. However, the monsters and the backgrounds are done in similar hues so that the creatures sometimes blend into the scenery. Among a crowded field, this title doesn't stand out. Recommend Mitchell Sharmat's Gregory, the Terrible Eater (Scholastic, 1984) or Kenneth Oppel's The King's Taster (HarperCollins, 2009) instead.-Laura Lutz, formerly at Queens Borough Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
"Fum, foe, fie, fee, monsters don't eat broccoli," but it turns out that they do eat all of the other things depicted on Hendra's opening endpapers, and more: wheels, ships, boulders, buildings and rockets. Ohand they also savor trees, remarking that "redwoods are delectable," and later referring to "a clump of giant maples and their yummy, gummy bark" The book's punch line is that the monsters are actually imaginative children pretending that the foods on their plates are all of the things listed in the text and depicted in the illustrations. The penultimate double-page spread reveals that the imagined buildings are Swiss cheese slices, rocket ships are carrot sticks, wheels are sliced tomatoes and trees are, you guessed it, broccoli. The vibrant gouache illustrations capture the silly playfulness of the text as goofy, rounded, toothy monsters delight in their odd meals in a variety of settings. Everything culminates in the closing endpapers' depiction of the children's foods, rather than the opening endpapers' references to their imagined counterparts. A fine serving for storytime. (Picture book. 2-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
