School Library Journal Review

Gr 1-3-This chaotic, disjointed story misses the mark. Arnie and his friend Raymond, dressed as a squid for their school's Halloween parade, arrive at Arnie's house and announce to his mother, "Never poke a squid in the ink bag!-That's the Rule of the Sea." From this funny, somewhat ominous statement, the events of the first graders' day are revealed in bits and snatches of conversation and halting sentence fragments that do little to give readers a clue about the plot. The main story, told in boxed text, is fortified somewhat by the busy watercolor cartoons of classmates making inane-often humorous-commentary, in comic-style balloons. At the end of the school day, the boys receive awards at a ceremony where the school principal inadvertently pokes their costume and is covered in ink. The final pages, back in Arnie's kitchen, reflect an inexplicable change of focus. After an invitation from his friend's mother to spend the night, a suddenly shy, insecure Raymond admits that he's never been to a sleepover before and feels the need to announce the obvious: "I'm Arnie's friend." The book and its humor are clearly for independent readers, but the lack of resolution may confuse rather than amuse.-Holly Belli, Bergen County Cooperative Library System, West Caldwell, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.