Steve Breen

This is one of my newest almost-favorite picture books. Stick is a little frog who wants to do everything all by himself. But with a very sticky tongue, things don't work out as he expects and he goes on a wild, tongue-pulling journey!

I love the many shades of green throughout the illustrations and Stick's adventures are perfectly and hilariously expressed through variously-sized panels.

My only quibble is the text. It's really unnecessary, as the pictures tell the story all by themselves and show more it's obvious at first glance that this could be a perfect wordless book. The text doesn't add to the story, just fills in what the reader is seeing and distracts from the perfect sequencing of the plot in the pictures. Still, for those who want to use this in storytime and have trouble with improvisation, the text will be a useful frame for discussing the illustrations.

Verdict: Highly recommended.

ISBN: 978-0803731240; Published March 2007 by Dial; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library; Purchased for my personal collection show less

It's been many years since I celebrated the pitch-perfect humor of Steve Breen's Stick. Although he's done many things over the years, it's only now that I see, once again, that hilarious sense of humor and perfect timing show up in a picture book again - and this time his art style and writing has developed much further.

Benny the woodpecker wants a waffle. He's never had one before, he's not even sure what they are, but they smell oh-so-good and he's willing to do anything to get one. But show more no matter what clever plans he tries, he just can't get into the diner! Finally, Benny comes up with the most daring, explosive, dramatic plan ever...not to mention the most sneaky!

What I loved about this story was not just the surprise ending but that it was funny all the way through, which will hold the attention of kids who haven't developed enough to wait for a punch line. Breen's illustrations are light and cheerful with perky animals and jokes for adults to enjoy as well.

Verdict: Time to start planning those woodpecker and waffle storytimes!

ISBN: 9780062342577; Published 2016 by Harper; Borrowed from another library in my consortium show less

Benny the Woodpecker awakens to the most heavenly smell one morning, following it to the newly opened 'Moe's: Home of the Hot Waffle Breakfast.' But his attempts to get in the door and to get some of those delicious waffles are baffled by the waitress, who continually ejects him from the premises. The other animals are amused by Benny's troubles, and try to convince him that woodpeckers don't eat waffles. Not to be dissuaded, Benny uses a cunning stratagem to fool both his fellow forest show more dwellers and the humans inside Moe's.

An entertaining tale, one which features an amusing ending - Benny is one clever woodpecker, managing to fool everyone! - Woodpecker Wants a Waffle would make an excellent story-time selection. It's the sort of book that rewards a closer examination. In fact, as someone who always scans the colophon for any information about the medium used in a picture-book's illustrations, I was amused to see a little joke contained in that short description. Recommended to anyone looking for engaging picture-books featuring funny stories, as well as to any waffle lovers out there! show less

I had my 12 Year old daughter read this book and tell me what she thought of it. She said that younger kids might think that sea monsters and flying carpets are real when they aren't. Seeing that it was published by Worthy Kids I asked if there was any mention of Jesus and she said no but maybe there was a mention of church. The cartoon pictures are fun and colorful. The words are large and bold so it looks like it might be for an early reader but there are some large words that an easy show more reader would have trouble with like Matterhorn, positive, descending, and lemonade to name a few. She didn't mention anything concerning so I would pass this on to some of my friends who have younger kids without a concern about content. I don't know that I would recommend it as a "Biblical" book. It's just fun! show less