Review - Stinky

This is an older review I wrote May 19th, 2009.

Stinky : A Toon Book
by Eleanor Davis
Toon Books

Our children's librarian Nancy handed me this book yesterday thinking I'd be interested in it, since it was a graphic novel written for first or second graders. (I hope it was not because of my hygiene.) And as I read the book, I found it to be a charming tale of a monster living in his swamp. Stinky was a Geisel Award honor book for 2009, so I knew that someone thought it was worthwile.

The story opens by introducing the monster Stinky, who is purple and has horns. He loves his frog Wartbelly and likes dirty, stinky things. He eats picked onions and likes bats and opossums. But he never wanders into town because there are kids there. Kids take baths, and eat apples. All the things Stinky hates. But one day, a boy wanders into Stiny's swamp and builds a treehouse. Stinky then comes up with some plans to drive the boy away.

As I mentioned, I found this story charming with the usuall theme in children's books of acceptance of differences and not judging too quickly things you might not know. And the artwork was very good. With bold colors and think lines, there is a clarity to the work that is easy to follow. And the pannel layouts are logical for children (and parents) who might not be familiar with comic books.

Nancy says there is a whole series of these titles and I hope she pickes them up for the library. I think children will find these stories as fun as I did.