The story of an eager cockroach who gate-crashes a birthday party—with hilarious results. For fans of I Don’t Want to Be a Frog.
It’s your birthday, and little do you know that an unwelcome guest has joined in on the festivities. A friendly cockroach has snuck undetected into the house, and has proceeded to join in on all of your fun party games. You were so excited to finally spot him napping on top of your birthday cake, having eaten his fill, that you couldn’t help but scream! You think he’s gone when your dad sucks him up in the vacuum cleaner…but with a birthday party this good, he’s going to be nearly impossible to keep away!
This laugh-out-loud picture book from bestselling author Maggie Hutchings and acclaimed illustrator Felicita Sala is the perfect birthday gift for young readers.
Full-color illustrations.
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K-Gr 2-Move over, Gregor Samsa; here's another cockroach poised for immortality! Hutchings voices a clueless, four-inch crawler with hairy legs, long antennae, huge eyes, and a big smile, who, seeing a party starting, joins in unnoticed until he is discovered snoozing on the cake. He believes the kids' screams show their joyful excitement to see him. Dad comes to the rescue with a much-feared vacuum that turns out to be a source of delicious food (not for the squeamish) within, and the relentlessly upbeat roach is subsequently reunited with lost family members in the garbage bin. He's happy to see them but eagerly returns to the festivities ("I knew you'd miss me") where-rinse and repeat. Sala's perfect, just-realistic-enough, bug's-eye illustrations underscore the deadpan gulf between the narrator's and the humans' perspectives. VERDICT Many young readers will find this side-splitting, and adults should get hold of their weak stomachs and prepare for multiple joyous readings.-Patricia D. Lothrop