Squish Squash Squished

December 15, 2020
An assortment of farm animals joins siblings for an increasingly crowded car ride. Max and Molly complain to their mother, who is driving, that they are "squished" and "squashed" in the back seat of their roomy car. Mom knows what to do. She invites Peter Jeeter and his piglet to "wiggle-piggle" in. Max and Molly complain. Mom then invites Dolly Waddle and her ducklings to "flit-feather" in. Max and Molly complain. Mom goes on to invite Inch Pinch and his puppies. Finally, Max and Molly have learned their lesson. They "hush-mush." Mom drives by Scooter Mooter and his tutu-clad calves and does not invite them in. Family by family, the animals along for the ride get out. Quiet reigns, and all is well in the "gracious-spacious" automobile. It is a tale replete with rhymes and wordplay that tips over into preciosity and grows silly and tiresome. The animal sounds are the usual ones, but hand-lettered over the illustrations, they feel like an afterthought and do not integrate neatly into a read-aloud. Stories with growing crowds of animals abound--think of the delightful Mr. Gumpy's Outing--but this one, unfortunately, adds little new to the mix. Delicately penciled and colored cartoons are amusing; in them, the human family appears interracial. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.5-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 33.6% of actual size.) Let this car pass by. (Picture book. 3-6)

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January 1, 2021

PreS-Gr 1-In this uncredited reimagining of the familiar Yiddish tale about a rabbi and the ungrateful resident of a one-room house, famously retold by Margot Zemach in It Could Always Be Worse, two siblings get frustrated being squished in the back seat of their mother's car. Max and Molly complain that being in the backseat is too crowded. Their mother picks up all manner of hitchhikers, from fidgety pigs to a mother dog and puppies. The children soon realize that the more they complain the more animals will be joining them, and settle down. One by one the animals in the backseat are dropped off at their destinations. Max and Molly, with light brown skin and dark hair like their mother, stretch out and revel in their "gracious-spacious" car. This is a humorous nonsensical story about gratitude, told in comic illustrations that make full use of exaggeration. It's odd that the story's origins aren't cited. VERDICT Children who want a modern take on an old story will giggle at the silliness of this version.-Annmarie Braithwaite, New York P.L.

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