The Marshmallow Incident

by Judi Barrett, Ron Barrett (Illustrator)

Overview

From the creators of the bestseller CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS comes another zany, laugh-out-loud picture book!

The Town of Left and the Town of Right are separated by a dotted yellow line, and no one on either side can remember how things got to be this way! One day, an unlucky citizen crosses the line -- forcing the Order of the Ambidextrous Knights who guard the border to take action. Unfortunately, the only ammunition they have around is marshmallows -- 50,000 boxes worth! So begins the Marshmallow Incident, a tale of Left and Right, and Right and Wrong, with an incredibly silly but delicious dose of Mallo-Puffs and Marsh-Pillows thrown in. Kids will read it once and then beg for s'more!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545337632
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	11/01/2010
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Judi Barrett is the author of numerous picture books, including the beloved classic CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS, now a major motion picture; it's sequel, PICKLES TO PITTSBURGH; and NEVER TAKE A SHARK TO THE DENTIST. Judi lives in Connecticut and Brooklyn, New York.
Ron Barrett has illustrated many books for children and adults, including CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS and PICKLES TO PITTSBURGH. The drawings for his book OLD MACDONALD HAD AN APARTMENT HOUSE were exhibited in the Louvre. Ron lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

For reasons that no one can apparently remember, the Town of Left and the Town of Right have been distinct, hostile zones, separated by a dotted line and guarded by the Order of the Ambidextrous Knights. One day, their uneasy peace is broken when some unlucky soul strays across the line. To stop this unthinkable invasion, the Knights unload all their advanced weaponry, which consists of 50,000 boxes of marshmallows. Judi and Ron Barrett transport us into a surrealistic realm that all fans of their classic Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will appreciate.

The rival towns of Left and Right provide the fanciful medieval setting of this middling fable by the creators of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Recalling etchings, Ron Barrett's pen-and-ink art humorously depicts the towns' separatist stances (“We proudly serve leftovers” announces a sign at Lefty's restaurant, while the words on Right's clock tower, which displays only the right side of the clock face, boasts “Always the Right Time”). Mayhem erupts when someone inadvertently does the unthinkable and crosses the dotted yellow line separating the two towns. Armor-clad members of the Order of the Ambidextrous Knights of the Dotted Yellow Line begin firing the only ammunition they have: thousands of marshmallows. A knight finally “realized how silly the whole thing was” and suggests that the divisive line between the towns be wiped out, which ends the marshmallow attack—and the longstanding enmity. Many of the tale's particulars are silly indeed, and the message about respecting differences ends up getting buried beneath the fluff. Ages 3–8. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 1–4—Two towns are divided by a dotted yellow line. On one side is Left, where all the left-handed people reside. On the other…well, I'm sure you get the idea. For untold generations, nobody crossed from one town to the other, and the boundary was guarded by the Order of Ambidextrous Knights. Then someone from Right stumbled over the line. What chaos! What outrage! The knights began shooting—but the only ammunition they could find was their vast supply of marshmallows. As the countryside filled with fluffy white sweets, the citizens' thoughts also became fluffier and a decision was reached to eradicate the line. Peace and feasting (and, presumably, sugar shock) ensued. This is a moderately interesting, if not scintillating, fable. The moral of the tale and the marshmallows appear to have been accidentally thrown into the same book. The text might well sink under a surplus of words. But Ron Barrett's illustrations keep the book afloat with funny, and punny, details. While The Marshmallow Incident probably won't be first on everyone's reading list, some of the notions—and most of the illustrations—will raise a smile, for all the right (and left) reasons.—Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY

School Library Journal

Timed to coincide with the release of the film of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, this unrelated tale from the Barretts is a wan fable about Getting Along, enlivened with a little pale silliness. The medieval-ish towns of Left and Right (inhabited by persons of the corresponding handedness) are close to each other but separated by a dotted yellow line guarded by the Order of the Ambidextrous Knights of the Dotted Yellow Line-which, thanks to a poetic member of the order, has in its castle 50,000 boxes of marshmallows won some years earlier in a contest. When a hapless resident of Right accidentally falls over the line, the Knights let loose with volleys of marshmallows "until one of the knights realize[s] how silly the whole thing [is]" and the people of Left and Right decide to erase the line and live happily ever after in peace, harmony and marshmallows. The overlong text never really gets past its vaguely Monty Python-esque premise, making it an insufficiently daffy, one-joke Lesson in Cooperation rather than the full-on goof-fest that made the Barretts' earlier book such a favorite. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews