You might think that a book without a story would not be any fun to read, but you would be mistaken. In Saltzberg's A Delicious Story, Big Mouse has to explain to Little Mouse why there is no story inside the book. After trying to distract Little Mouse with how peaceful and quiet it is, Big Mouse must finally admit what happened and try to appease Little Mouse by making up a new story. The blank white background emphasize the lack of a story or pictures; the mice and their dialogue are the only things on the pages.
The words of Big Mouse appear in black text, while Little Mouse has blue text for its words. Body language conveys their emotions with posture, eyes, eyebrows, arm motions, even the tails. You can see in the image above that Big Mouse is feeling sad - drooping head and tail, eyes lowered. Little Mouse is shocked and upset - mouth open wide to shout its question, eyebrows raised, even the tail quivering in agitation. Every illustration is full of such clues.
This is sure to be a kid pleaser - especially with the surprise ending that the small mouse asks for and receives. Youngsters who understand the desire for a story will sympathize with Little Mouse's outrage that the story is missing and the demand for an explanation. The interaction between the characters is sure to elicit plenty of laughs from kids and adults.
I read an advance review copy provided by the publisher. Publication date is set for June 6.
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