Billy Twitters and his Blue Whale Problem
By Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex
Disney-Hyperion, 2009
Picture book, 48 pages, ages 4-8
Billy Twitters’ mom issues an ultimatum: “Clean up your room, or we’re buying you a blue whale.” Billy doesn’t listen; after all, he figures, it’s not like his parents can have one delivered to the house overnight.
The next morning, the FedUp truck arrives with, you guessed it, a blue whale.
Now Billy has a blue whale to take care of, so he takes it to school and tries to hide it (imagine how successful that is).
Billy’s hilarious and surreal struggle to care for his gargantuan new pet is Mac Barnett and Adam Rex at their wacky best. (This is Mac Barnett’s debut picture book.) Blue Whale factoids are even sprinkled throughout the story, interspersed with sight gags and clever word play. (So kids are having fun AND learning.)
Billy’s ingenious solutions to his problems – what to do with a blue whale and a messy room – will have kids and adults rolling off their chairs with laughter.
This is one of my all-time favorite books. If it had come out when I was a kid, it might even have supplanted my favorite, The Monster at the End of this Book. If you or your kids are fans of the humor in Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Mother Bruce, you’ll like this book.
An absurd, thoroughly entertaining cautionary “tail” about what happens when you don’t obey your parents and are faced with a problem of blue whale proportions.
Billy Twitter and his Blue Whale Problem by Mac Barnett: 5 Stars