Please Don't Eat Me

by Liz Climo

Overview

Beloved author-illustrator Liz Climo is back with a hilarious take on (reluctant) friendship that will appeal to fans of We Don't Eat Our Classmates and I Want My Hat Back!

When a carefree bunny is approached by a voracious bear in the woods, Bunny has just one request: "Please don't eat me."

But the bear has a never-ending list of requests, and Bunny realizes maybe Bear isn't as hungry as he'd let on...maybe he just wants his new friend's company for a while.


This witty and poignant exploration of predator and prey will have children and parents alike roaring with laughter—and looking for their next meal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316315258
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	10/15/2019
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	244,244
Product dimensions:	9.70(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD410L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Liz Climo grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and moved to Los Angeles after college to work as a character artist on The Simpsons. She is the illustrator of You Don't Want a Unicorn and Can Somebody Please Scratch My Back?, as well as the author and illustrator of the Rory the Dinosaur series, The Little World of Liz Climo, Lobster is the Best Medicine, and Best Bear Ever!. Liz currently lives with her husband and their daughter. She would never eat a friend, but always says yes to splitting a pizza. You can see more of her work at lizclimo.tumblr.com.

Editorial Reviews

Climo wields enormous charm and poses questions about friendship that might lead to great conversations.

The New York Times Book Review - Emily Jenkins

Praise for Please Don't Eat Me:
"Climo masterfully includes a ton of expression behind the two protagonists' tiny dotted eyes. [...] Droll humor that's sure to elicit guffaws."—Kirkus Reviews

"Hand to fans of [Laura] Numeroff's many books or read this for a raucous and silly preschool storytime."—School Library Journal

* "Echoes of child persistence and adult exasperation might ring familiar to grownup readers, but mostly this will earn plenty of giggles from fans of Jon Klassen and Lemony Snicket."—BCCB, starred review

"[...] Climo's laconic repartee between predator and prey is aimed pretty squarely at a 4-year-old's funny bone. The sarcastic rabbit and the sincere, if sincerely peckish, bear make an entertaining duo."—The Washington Post

Praise for Rory the Dinosaur Wants a Pet:
"The cartoon-style illustrations, achieved with "digital magic," are set off with plenty of white space, and...it is an appealing read-aloud. Children just developing a sense of humor will appreciate the innocent silliness of the tale."—Kirkus Reviews

"Climo's sweet digital illustrations brim with vibrant colors, and young listeners will enjoy noting the many witty visual details.... A perfect lap-sit title or story hour choice."—Booklist

Praise for You Don't Want a Unicorn!:
"Climo's rainbow-bright illustrations take Dyckman's silly premise to a whole new level of absurdity.... This is a crowd-pleaser, complete with cupcake poops and rainbow burps, and...a welcoming and unobtrusive gender-nonconforming vibe."—Horn Book

"Climo creates gleeful unicorn havoc ... there's a lot of mischievous fun to be had."—Publisher's Weekly

From the Publisher

10/01/2019

PreS-Gr 1—An innocuous bunny rabbit accidentally burrows into a bear's lawn and pleads not to be eaten. Bear explains that he is quite hungry. So Bunny orders him a pizza. Then Bear wants dessert. So they share a milkshake. Then Bear wants to show off his bunny-eating prowess to his friends. So Bunny obligingly crawls into his mouth as Bear parades in front of some other bears. On and on it goes, until finally Bunny cannot bargain or put up with the nonsense anymore and just resigns itself to being eaten, even helpfully crawling into a salad bowl to aid Bear's digestion. But it turns out that Bear doesn't actually want to eat Bunny; he just wants a friend, and fortunately, he's found one. A story in the spirit of Laura Numeroff's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, this tale relies on the enduring humor of a persistent and demanding character and a patient (until a certain point) companion. The typeface is modeled on the artist's own handwriting and appears in speech bubbles over the two animals' heads. The plucky and resourceful Bunny is forced to constantly come up with ways to circumvent Bear's demanding hunger. Climo's digitally created illustrations give the cartoon creatures very subtly expressive faces while the text does the heavy lifting, and the simple forest background lets the comedic interactions really shine. VERDICT Hand to fans of Numeroff's many books or read this for a raucous and silly preschool storytime.—Laken Hottle, Providence Community Library

School Library Journal

2019-07-28
A bunny negotiates with a bear to avoid becoming lunch.

Burrowing along happily through the soil, a tiny white rabbit is stopped short by the beauty of a daisy. Unfortunately, a bear steps out from behind a tree at precisely the same moment. There's no mistaking the bunny's disappointment at the timing of the situation: "Aw, nuts." The bear is hungry, so the quick-thinking rabbit proposes ordering a pizza. The pair share a pie, but before the bunny can leave, Bear muses, "It just doesn't feel like a meal without dessert." Will the bunny be dessert?! No. A chuckleworthy page turn reveals the two sharing a milkshake with giant twisty straws. Bear has many other ways of delaying the bunny's departure until finally, the bunny loses patience: "Fine. That's it! Just eat me already!" Flopped on a bed of greens, the bunny presents itself as a meal. But Bear has another option—perhaps they could be friends instead. The dumpy little rabbit mirrors Bear's rotund frame; both state their arguments with deadpan precision. However, via tiny adjustments in body language, Climo masterfully includes a ton of expression behind the two protagonists' tiny dotted eyes. Minimalist cartoon backgrounds keep the focus on the developing relationship.

Droll humor that's sure to elicit guffaws. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews