How to Eat a Book

by Mrs. & Mr. MacLeod

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Where to even begin? How about with this — If Shel Silverstein, Maurice Sendak and Arnold Lobel were working on a group project and then Edward Gorey showed up, they would submit How to Eat a Book. Mrs. & Mr. MacLeod channel their brilliance into a wholly unique, exhilarating package that will leave you in awe. This debut is the celebration of books and reading that you didn't know you needed.

A whimsical picture book for kids written by debut wife and husband team Mrs. & Mr. MacLeod, children’s book authors and artists. This irresistible book about books—and the way they make us feel—is set in a world bursting with charm and character. How to Eat a Book is destined to be a favorite read-aloud book for kids, families, librarians, booksellers, and educators.
 
Sheila sat down to eat her first book and the strangest thing happened . . . The book ate HER. One by one, cousins Sheila, Gerald, and Geraldine Grunion are eaten . . . by their books. This peculiar turn of events flings them far and wide. Sheila escapes the weight of the world entirely, while Gerald braves the wonder of seeing it up close. And Geraldine, well, Geraldine turns as terrifically terrible as she possibly can. Join the Grunions on adventures no child can resist!
 
How to Eat a Book is a quirky, modern celebration of books—with hints of Shel Silverstein and a smattering of Edward Gorey. Fantastically illustrated with dipped pen-and-ink cutout art, photographed in a three-dimensional stage diorama, and hand colored, this debut children’s picture book is a breakout hit from the talented Mrs. & Mr. MacLeod. The Grunion cousins have more stories to tell and adventures to take, each sure to be as surprising as the next.
 
Hardcover picture books; 48 pages; 8.5 x 10.9 in.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454945444
Publisher:	Union Square Kids
Publication date:	10/04/2022
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	4,575
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD530L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 8 Years

About the Author

Mrs. & Mr. MacLeod are an award-winning, critically acclaimed author and illustrator team living with their five children in California. Their debut picture book, How to Eat a Book, won the Barnes & Noble Picture Book of the Year Award in 2023.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for How to Eat a Book
“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.” —School Library Journal, starred review
"Takes 'battle of the books' to a whole new level." —Kirkus Reviews
“Mrs. & Mr. MacLeod channel their brilliance into a wholly unique, exhilarating package that will leave you in awe.” —B&N Reads
“With fun illustrations created to look three-dimensional, your child will laugh and squeal with delight while moving quickly through this book.” —Daily Mom
“If Lewis Carroll, Piet Mondrian and Shel Silverstein had ever decided to start a family and write a book together, these are the kids and the book they would have conceived. . . . [A] time-warping joyride of graphic delight and conceptual dexterity that even the pickiest reader will find hard to resist.”” —New York Times
 A Kids' Indie Next List picture book
 A B&N Most Anticipated Read pick
A School Library Journal Best Picture Books of 2022 selection

From the Publisher

★ 09/01/2022

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

School Library Journal

2022-06-08
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)

Kirkus Reviews