What Is Inside THIS Box?

December 15, 2018
Anthropomorphic friends Monkey and Cake debate the mysterious contents of a cardboard box. In a clear reference to Schrödinger, Monkey tells Cake that there's a cat inside the box--but, supposedly, the cat disappears when the box is opened. Cake questions Monkey's logic, wondering how they know there is a cat inside when the box is closed. Naturally, Monkey asks how Cake knows there is not a cat inside. Agreeing to disagree--and accepting the paradox--the pair leaves to get pie. The final pages set the matter straight once and for all. Taking a cue from the Elephant & Piggie series formula, the text consists entirely of dialogue. Speech bubbles are color-coded to easily match with characters (blue for Cake; yellow for Monkey). With a vocabulary of around 60 words, the dialogue offers plenty of repetition for emergent readers. Tallec's expressive, dark-pencil-and-acrylic illustrations are set against a white background. That the characters are a brown monkey with an upturned cap and a yellow-and-pink slice of cake with a coating of brown frosting as hair opens the relationship up to racial analysis. In one spread, a zoomed-in portrait of Cake even looks like a white human. The simultaneously publishing This Is MY Fort! recycles the formula into a lesson on the cruelty of exclusion (Cake makes a fort in which no monkeys are allowed). In both texts, endpapers offer open-ended questions to contextualize the story. An entertaining thought experiment, but the characters are a bit too on-the-nose for pure comfort. (Early reader. 4-8)

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March 1, 2019

K-Gr 2-This new series stars an impish little monkey and a personified slice of cake with a cherry on top of his head. Monkey and Cake are good friends. When Cake discovers Monkey sitting on top of a box, he asks what is inside. Monkey responds that a cat is in the box, but upon further questioning admits that the cat exists only when the box is closed. To up the ante, he also states that if Cake opens the box, the cat will disappear because the cat is MAGIC. Cake, as one would expect, is incredulous. They go back and forth and appear to be heading to a stalemate when Monkey advises Cake that he can think anything he wants about what is inside the box when it is closed. This invitation to imagination is priceless, and Cake soon declares that a dinosaur is inside. The whole Socratic debate begins anew with the two friends finally coming to an agreement that they will never know what is actually inside the box. Once they exit the scene, readers see a cat peeking out, and wouldn't you know it, when we turn the page, she is accompanied by a dinosaur. Daywalt (The Day the Crayons Quit) and Tallec (This Book Will Not Be Fun) have crafted a delightful, philosophical romp that will please and intrigue beginning readers. The end of the book contains several questions for children to ponder, which will prompt discussion and imaginative play. A nod to Schrödinger's cat is included for all quantum mechanics fans. VERDICT Funny and thought-provoking. A definite purchase for beginning reader collections.-Amy Nolan, St. Joseph Public Library, MI

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