cover image Troubling Tonsils! (Jasper Rabbit’s Creepy Tales!)

Troubling Tonsils! (Jasper Rabbit’s Creepy Tales!)

Aaron Reynolds, illus. by Peter Brown. Simon & Schuster, $13.99 (88p) ISBN 978-1-6659-6108-0

Collaborators Reynolds and Brown deliver a just-as-creepy new adventure in this satirical chapter book spin-off of the Creepy Carrots series. Young Charlie Marmot is anxious about having his tonsils removed—until he realizes he can bring the two “gross, pulpy masses of flesh” to school for an eerie show-and-tell. As the surgeon readies Charlie for his operation, however, they realize that Charlie’s tonsils have inexplicably disappeared from his throat. That night, Charlie awakens “splayed across his desk like a pile of unfinished homework.” The youth knows he didn’t arrive there himself: Charlie was “plucked from his slumber”—but by whom? While young readers might not clock the Twilight Zone influences, they will no doubt appreciate the pseudo-horror-movie ambiance steeped in silliness. Highfalutin text adds tension and gravitas to the unfolding events, depicted via moody, noir-like b&w illustrations featuring slick, tonsil-pink accents. As in many Twilight Zone episodes, not everything ends well for the protagonist, and readers are left with a finish they won’t see coming. Ages 6–9. Author’s agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. Illustrator’s agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary. (Sept.)