I usually don't buy books like this online on spec. I read an ARC or look at the book at the library or check it out and buy it at a bookstore. Kid picture books are just too pricey for taking flyers. But I couldn't resist this one, and I'm glad I didn't.
The whole Martha-hates-green-beans thing suggested we might be heading into precious territory. The whole kids-hate-vegetables cliche has never appealed to me as a surefire laugher. We're giving this to a grandchild who loves veggies. When at our house at lunchtime he actually requests "green food". And he's otherwise a normal, bright appealing little kid. So, with a questionable setup why did this work so well?
First off, the story's tone is just right. Martha has to not like veggies. Then she has to enjoy having her parents kidnapped and gone for a few hours before she then gets lonely and misses them. Then she has to face down the mean green bean banditos and save her parents. Then we have to have some satisfying wrap up to the veggie eating issue. At any one of these points the book could have taken an odd, weird or tone-deaf turn. But it doesn't. The story is a bit of a lark but it always seems authentic, grounded and silly-honest. Martha, aided by her deadpan but expressive dog, always comes across as an actual, interesting, basically sound kid. And once you get the kid right, everything else falls into place.
Second, the drawing complements the story perfectly. Mom and Dad look like parents and Martha looks like a kid. Best, though, the green bean banditos are a scream. Each tough and stringy bean has a different look and the whole gang is drawn in just the right exaggerated, silly, menacing, goofy style. Once you get a green bean with a curly moustache, black cowboy hat and pointy boots, you've got a real villain.
So, it's funny, it's never odd or awkward, and it's cheerfully silly. I'm not sure if it will get reluctant kids to eat veggies, (really, the moral instruction angle is not the point), but I guess it does put the issue on the table. A happy, fun find.
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