One Chicken Nugget

A favorite fried food, a hungry monster, and an expansive math concept take center stage in Bentley’s fresh take on an Indian folktale. Celeste, a young food truck proprietor portrayed with brown skin, purple pigtail puffs, and enormous red glasses, cooks up a plan to get rid of her most insatiable—and most ill-behaved—customer, a purple monster named Frank. Frank is delighted when Celeste debuts the 30-Day Double Nugget Challenge, stipulating that participants eat one nugget the first day, two the second day, and then continue subsequently doubling the amount. Readers will marvel at Frank’s capacity for devouring an ever-growing quantity—with barbecue dipping sauce—in Bentley’s candy-hued digital images, which make the comic most of both Celeste’s tiny-kitchen-cooked nuggets and the concept of exponential growth. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)