Chopsticks

Anyone else hungry for some sushi right now? 

THREE PROS

*Scott Magoon's illustration style is basic but absolutely the perfect compliment to Amy Krouse Rosenthal's kneeslappers  

*You can't go wrong with the message -- best friends can grow even stronger by NOT spending all their time together
*"No one stirred, not even the spoon" is one of my favorite cheesy lines in a kid book ever; and the whisk play-on-words wasn't far behind

THREE CONS 

*The author tried so hard to work in a musical Chopsticks reference that it watered down (soyed down?) the ending 
*I could have done without the Monday thru Sunday pages (plus, Thursday gets lost in the spine fold) 

*Can't tell if it would have been a better read if the two chopsticks had some sort of identifying difference from the start

ONE DAD'S OPINION
Another 2012 book review for you to ponder.  Maybe I should change the name of the blog to New Kid Book Ratings?!  Anyways, this was one of the rare library check-outs that my wife hasn't questioned in the last month or so.  It's close to being a Buy, but there are enough little issues that I had to knock it down one grade.  As someone who prefers a fork to chopsticks during my Asian dining experiences, I want to look past the slight annoyances of Chopsticks and focus on investing myself in the overall experience, but know that my meal would ultimately be better if these things were remedied.    

Buy / BORROW / Donate / Destroy