Stinky

(TOON Books) $12.95 40 pages

ISBN: 978-0-9799238-4-5

Release date: August 29, 2008

Author: Eleanor Davis

Age rating: Grades K-2

ICv2 Stars: 5 (out of 5)

Stinky is a monster who loves his smelly, sticky, swampy home and he is not at all pleased when Nick, a kid from the neighboring town, builds a treehouse in his swamp.  Stinky knows kids are bad news; they eat apples, don't like mud, and take baths.  Trying everything he can think of to scare the kid away, from hiding his pet toad in the tree house to dressing up like a ghost, Stinky is ready to give up after none of his plans work.  But when Stinky and Nick have to work together to solve a problem, Stinky realizes that just because Nick is different doesn't mean he's bad or scary.

Using a controlled vocabulary with plenty of repetition, alliteration, and synonyms, this is a well crafted book for beginning readers.  As an added bonus, Davis has written a story first and second graders will actually want to read.  The story follows a comfortable formula and has enough gentle humor to keep the predictable from being boring.  The characters are cute and believable, and both Stinky's fear of things that are different and Nick's blasé attitude toward things meant to scare him will be recognizable to the book's target audience.  The art is full of detail and the rich colors help bring the scenes to life.  The world Davis has created is so well fleshed out that the map of the neighborhood included on the back endpaper is almost unnecessary, but kids will appreciate the added touch. An excellent addition to the RAW Junior/TOON Books collection.

-Eva Volin

Supervising Children’s Librarian for the Alameda Free Library in California and recent Eisner Award judge.