Splat!

Burgerman’s first children’s book is a mess—in a good way. He opens with a rhetorical question for readers: “What happens when you turn the page?” On the accompanying left-hand page, readers see a fluffy green object, and a smiley face appears on the right. By turning the page, children essentially smash the face onto the green blob, creating a (rather dazed-looking) creature with a giant “Splat!” It’s a natural lead-in to a classic pie-in-the-face gag, and the increasingly cranky creature gets blasted with confetti, turned into a sandwich, visited by insects and chicks, and bombarded by water balloons with subsequent page turns, each punctuated with all-caps splashes and splats. Set against bright, crayon-colored backdrops, Burgerman’s cartoons, outlined in thick black lines, are as in-your-face as it gets—fitting, given that “in your face” is basically this book’s raison d’être. It’s good, not so clean fun that will delight fans of slapstick comedy, as well as those who love to be in the thick of things when mischief is being made. Ages 3–5. (June)