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CM Magazine: Peanut Butter and Jelly.

________________ CM . . . . Volume XXIV Number 24. . . .February 23, 2018

Peanut Butter and Jelly. (Narwhal and Jelly Book #3).

Ben Clanton.
Toronto, ON: Tundra Books, 2018.
64 pp., hardcover & epub, $16.99 (hc.).
ISBN 978-1-7352-6245-4 (hc.), ISBN 978-1-7352-6247-8 (epub).

Subject Heading:
Graphic novels.

Grades 1-4 / Ages 6-9.

Review by Kay Weisman.

**** /4

Excerpt:

Delicious Facts:

Scientists believe narwhals suck up their food whole and eat mainly fish.

Narwhal: I prefer waffles! And peanut butter!

Most jellyfish sting their prey with their tentacles before eating it.

Blue whales (the largest animal ever) eat mainly tiny little krill. They eat oodles of them. As many as 40 million krill per day!

Blue Whale: Yum!

Krill: Eek!

Humpback whales work together to create complex bubble nets to corral fish to eat.

Humpback whales: Round them up! Yee Haw! Blub!

Sea cucumbers eat all sorts of things, including poop.

Sea cucumber: Yummy!

Tiger sharks are often referred to as “The trash cans of the sea” because they will eat just about anything, from pigs to tires to explosives.

Tiger Shark: I’ve got a tummy ache!

Book 3 in the "Narwhal and Jelly" series (Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea and Super Narwhal and Jelly Jolt) offers new adventures for this undersea duo. In the first story, Jelly persuades Narwhal to try a new food, peanut butter. Narwhal resists, since he only eats waffles, but, when he finally tries peanut butter, he finds that he loves it. In the second story, Narwhal’s obsession with peanut butter goes too far, and his entire body turns brown. He also contemplates changing his name to Peanut Butter. And in the final story, Narwhal becomes miniaturized (peanut sized) until a resumption of his normal waffle diet returns him to his original size and color. Sandwiched between these stories are two shorter pieces: Delicious Facts (see excerpt above) and a pun filled story featuring Super Waffle and his strawberry sidekick.

This successful graphic series features everything a beginning reader might want: brief text, simple illustrations, humor, and stories focused on topics sure to interest a young audience. Both Narwhal and Jelly are well developed characters, each with his own quirks and obsessions, whose friendship and joyful outlook on life manage to get them through a myriad of difficult situations. Prepare for high demand by purchasing extra copies of Narwhal: Peanut Butter and Jelly.

Highly Recommended.

Kay Weisman is a former youth services librarian at West Vancouver Memorial Library.

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