How to make a peanut butter sandwich in 17 easy steps

It's surprisingly easy to make a peanut butter sandwich. Just follow a few simple steps, such as making sure you have a donkey wearing wooden clogs do a polka on top of the just-shelled peanuts to a lively accordion tune played by a raccoon until the desired consistency is achieved. Or having a synchronized teams of squirrels and mice assembling the sandwiches by spreading the peanut butter with a knife that a beaver whittled with his teeth out of a freshly felled log. This delightful treat of a book uses 17 overly complicated steps to imagine the most bizarre and unlikely way for a group of woodland (and woodland-adjacent) animals to construct peanut butter and banana sandwiches for their park picnic. Edlund does a masterful job of grounding her over-the-top story by using a gentle pastel palate of orange sherbets and pistachio greens, and her peanut-loving animals are round, friendly, and eager. Preschoolers and younger elementary students will love how nonsensically silly the process is. In fact, they just might eat it up.

Pea-nuts to you! Lovers of peanut butter sandwiches--or, more accurately, peanut butter and banana sandwiches--won't be able to follow each step of the "recipe" herein exactly, but they'll savor this rollicking how-to guide nonetheless. All the better if genuine peanut butter sandwiches (with or without bananas) are ready for scarfing down after reading. A page of necessary "ingredients" precedes the steps to be followed, and it's a sure bet readers will have never encountered most of them before in their own sandwich-making prep: four wooden clogs, one raccoon, two crows, one skunk, one skateboard, one accordion, one hat with a brim, and four mice. (It's OK; all makes perfect sense by the end, and not all the "ingredients" are actually in the sandwiches.) As with any good recipe, each part of the process is easy to follow; the text is uncomplicated, with each step following one after the other in logical order. The lively, comical illustrations aid comprehension and enhance enjoyment. Important points to highlight: The foods used in the sandwiches are fresh and organic, and the story emphasizes working together in the spirit of camaraderie. The neighborly animal characters accept and celebrate each other's differences--an excellent message to share with children. Human background characters are racially diverse. A winning recipe: delightful illustrations, a clever story, and food! (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.