How to Eat an Airplane

by Peter Pearson, Mircea Catusanu (Illustrator)

Overview

The first book in the Bad Ideas Book Club, aptly named How to Eat an Airplane, explains: If you want to eat an airplane, there are a few things you should know. The truth is, most airplanes are too large to eat by yourself, so if you want to eat an airplane, you should have a party. It’s fact-based picture book fiction at its most absurd!

By crossing two unrelated topics—dinner etiquette and jet plane mechanics—How to Eat an Airplane creates an unexpected and absurdly funny experience for young readers. Inspired by the true story of Michel Lotito, who from 1978 to 1980 ate an entire Cessna 150 airplane and holds the Guinness World Record for Strangest Diet, the book covers everything from setting the table with forklifts and toasting with engine oil to fastening your seat belts at the table and taking a nice stretch in between courses—preferably on the airplane’s wings. 

There’s a disclaimer included for anyone who believes the book is an actual guide—as well as four pages of fascinating and relevant airplane facts. Perfect for precocious readers and airplane lovers as well as teachers and parents looking to enjoy something unique and fun.

The Bad Ideas Book Club: Where the best ideas are bad ideas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062320629
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/24/2016
Series:	Bad Idea Book Club Series
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Peter Pearson spends most of his time pressed against the fence of the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport. He was almost kicked out of the children’s writing program at Hamline University for eating a teacher’s pencil, but fortunately they let him stay.

Mircea Catusanu spends most of his time suspended at thirty thousand feet between his native Romania and his home in New York, living the high life. Literally. He enjoys fishing off Long Island for one of his favorite sandwich ingredients: submarines.

Editorial Reviews

06/01/2016
PreS-Gr 2—Funny pictures and text combine to create a laugh-out-loud riotous story about aircraft consumption. Scientific information sneaks into the script. "Airplane wheels are vulcanized, so cook them well before serving. You don't want them to be too rubbery." There's also information about polite behavior. For instance, readers are warned, "Be sure that you have knives, spoons, and forklifts." The text skips along at a fast pace. There's action everywhere. Cartoon illustrations show multicultural children partaking in the feast. Pages of airplane facts are appended. Here's hoping that there will be many more delicious, ridiculous titles in this series. VERDICT A fun and lively story for precocious kids. Perfect humor for science, transportation, and even etiquette units.—Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI

School Library Journal

2016-02-02
A man ate an airplane. This is true. Though this is not his story, Pearson uses it to ground a surprisingly informative book about the technology (and etiquette). As Pearson explains at the closure of this crazy business, a gentleman by the name of Michel Lotito ate a Cessna 150, which, granted, is not a Boeing 747, but even so....In the book proper he gives this curious act a suitable touch of insanity, graced with Emily Post-like commands on the proper etiquette of airplane-eating. The best venue is a party (for a little help from your friends). Your invitees must be sent tickets of invitation and then met at the gate. Serve jet-fuel aperitifs to wash down the crunchy mechanical canapes. Pearson tosses in some humdinger words—aileron, fuselage, the Tardiness Toast: "To friends and clocks and paradox. / I'm usually on time. Oops"—but he makes them go down even easier than Cessna 150 parts. Meanwhile, Catusanu's artwork is full of hard-candy color, inviting and playful, with a relatively diverse cast of human characters among the partygoers and even a dog and a cat. Even the "Airplane Facts" at the end of the book are designed to both amuse and instruct. "Planes are heavy. Just the paint on a commercial airliner weighs between 400 and 1,000 pounds!" This series opener is a successful combination of etiquette book and airplane cookery: who'd have thunk it? (Informational picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews