Zak Smith

The Worst Breakfast is so much fun. From the mind who brought us dark, scary, futuristic dystopias (like Perdido Station), comes a really fun read aloud picture book. Two sisters reminisce about the worst breakfast ever, although one of them has a hard time remembering all the awful details. Mieville's story lilts and rhymes and plays with words, and one masterful page of horrible eats is a treat to read, but will send many to the dictionary (or Google).

I continue to be thoroughly unimpressed by Miéville. This children's book is about a young girl telling her sister about the worst breakfast ever, with increasingly foul offerings being recited (mostly) in rhyme, culminating in the revelation of what that breakfast has to do with the current one: the orange juice has "bits" in it. As someone who firmly believes orange juice should be freshly squeezed and thick with pulp, I cannot even begin to imagine why thin, watery OJ would be preferred. show more

All I could think while reading it was that Shel Silverstein did the rhyming of gross foodstuffs so much better in Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out. show less

My family exaggerates and we’re packed with picky eaters (yes, I’m one). So this picture book featuring a pair of sisters remembering the worst breakfast they’ve ever had because something is amiss with their current one, was a fun and funny and in a way very familiar. It has with rhymes along with large and funny words—how often is vegemite discussed in children’s picture books—creating an unappetizing but funny mess. Zak Smith’s art is fabulous inserting strange and show more interesting creatures hanging out in the breakfast foods and as the older sister’s story gains speed and new levels of gross, the illustrations becomes wilder and more packed with detail. Adult fans of both will love this but it certainly works for children too. It reminded me of Shel Silverstein’s “Sarah Cynthia Syliva Stout…” and Maurice Sendak. show less

Two sisters sit down for breakfast; big sis realizes that something is amiss. This breakfast reminds her of the worst breakfast ever. Little sis, however, doesn’t quite remember, so big sis tells her in vivid detail of burnt toast, slimy vegetables, too hot tea, far too much honey and worst of all-juice with bits. As little sis joins in the worst breakfast ever gets ooeier, gooier and grosser until there is a huge mess of made-up worst breakfast ever.
Imaginative and fun, The Worst show more Breakfast is perfect for any picky eater out there. A rhyming scheme and inventive text kept up the giggles and the pace. The text is best read aloud going along with all of the suggestions, with emphasis placed on capitalized words and pauses between syllables when they are spaced out. The illustrations are very different than what you typically see in children’s books; they are bright and fun, but edgier and begged to be looked at deeper. You can spend time on each page trying to find each food and a series of silly little monsters. I do wish that the one page that is just filled with text was spaced out a bit and had pictures to it, as it was difficult for me to get through with the pace that it deserved and all the foods listed there would have made an awesome illustration. Overall, an inventive and lighthearted children’s book, best for ages 5-8. Oh, and I definitely agree that juice with pulp is awful.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. show less