How to eat a book

K-Gr 3--Mrs. and Mr. MacLeod introduce cousins Sheila, Gerald, and Geraldine Grunion in this fun and clever book. With a touch of Lewis Carroll and a little bit of Edward Gorey, plus a smidge of Roald Dahl--style misadventure, the children are gobbled up by various books and must snack their way out of trouble. The Grunions are a great addition to story time. The text flows through repetition and a lyrical style. Readers will enjoy the humor in each child's predicaments; each cousin has a distinct personality in both illustration and text: "Geraldine tore through the pages/ to a time where being terrible was terrific/ And Geraldine/ was terrific at being terrible." She faces down a bright red T. rex, conquering the beast and returning herself to Grandma's house. The MacLeods illustrate the Grunions using dipped pen and ink cut-out art, photographed in a three-dimensional stage diorama, then digitally colored. Shadow and light are used to guide viewers through each page. The style is deceptive at first, appearing simple with black-and-white scenes; later additions of color and shadow add depth that will have readers taking a second look. VERDICT A refreshing book in text and art, with a title that grabs attention, a plot that delivers, and an ending that resonates. No child could possibly resist.--Meaghan Nichols

Three voracious book lovers demonstrate different ways of reading--with active help from their predatory reading matter. Not being the sorts of books that sit passively in the hands, the volumes that Sheila and her twin cousins, Gerald and Geraldine, pick up abruptly suck the three down into immersive whirls of experience: Sheila blasting off into space, timorous Gerald creeping his way to an encounter with a monstrous Bug-a-Boo, and irascible Geraldine (who is "terrific at being terrible") ripping through pages to bare her teeth at a stunned T. Rex. The narrative is given to both lyrical and typographical flights of fancy ("Spiraling into / a world / of words, Hungry for answers, / Sheila asked / a beautiful question"), while the illustrations are images of three-dimensional pages on which paper cutouts of the three light-skinned children and other figures float over, sometimes through, exhilarating assemblages of multilayered cutouts, artfully elevated portions of scenes, and low shadows all lit with pops of color. Tables turn partway through as the books suddenly realize that far from digesting their readers, they themselves are being consumed, word by word. But even after all their words are gone, the books have left their marks on the trio of young readers. As the authors put it, "strange but true, / the way to eat a book, / is to let / THE BOOK EAT YOU!" Excellent advice. Takes "battle of the books" to a whole new level. (Picture book. 6-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.