Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
I Will Not Eat You
Illustrator: Scott Magoon
Picture Book
For ages
Simon and Schuster, 2016 ISBN: 978-1481429337
Theodore lives in a quiet cave and there he stays watching the world outside. Animals come and go, walking, running, or flying past the cave entrance. Theodore considers every single one of them to be a potential meal, especially if they are noisy. Sometimes he tells the animal to “Go away” and the animal in question gets to live another day. Sometimes the animal ends up in Theodore’s belly.
One day Theodore is looking out and, in turn, a bird, a wolf, and a tiger come near his cave. Theodore considers whether he should eat these animals (all of whom are making noise,) but he really isn’t hungry and so he tells them to go away. All of them, even the tiger, quickly leave the area.
Then, that very evening, a little boy dressed up as a knight and riding a wooden hobby horse comes up to Theodore’s cave and the boy makes a loud noise. Theodore is not pleased and he is feeling hungry, and so he considers eating the little nuisance. He gives the child a warning, threatening to eat the boy if he continues to bother him, but the boy does not heed the warning. He does not go away. He does not stop making noise. Even worse, the boy pokes Theodore in the snout with his toy sword. This is just too much and so Theodore reacts.
Children are going to love this very unusual picture book. We imagine that we know what is going to happen and then, well, the story takes a rather surprising turn. It turns out that creatures like Theodore can, under the right circumstances, come to appreciate that there are some thingin life that are actually better than peace and quiet.
