by Patrick Loehr
 
Where the rain falls and the wind howls, little Mucumber's stomach growls. But what can he do when there's nothing to chew, like apples or crackers or porridge or stew? But wait—a hot dog!—albeit quite old . . . and wrinkled and lumpy and lonely and cold. We all know it's true—food is better when new. But if you were that hungry, what would you do? School Library Journal Gr 1-3 This book opens to an ominous spread of a dark and rainy night; a large stone house; and a pale, thin boy in a black suit. The rhyming text tells the plight of this child, Mucumber McGee, who has missed lunch and dinner and is very hungry. He finds one lone hot dog in the back of the icebox and consumes half of it before his sister steps in to deliver a lecture on the hazards of eating raw meat. Mucumber spends the rest of the book dramatically awaiting his death, until Mother arrives. "Sweet Mucumber, don't worry./If you'd only looked,/the package says clearly:/Hot dogs are precooked!" While the text gets a little over-the-top, the illustrations, full of dark shadows and threatening details, are humorously macabre-the gothic figures in the old portraits are always eating something unexpected like pancakes or a turkey leg. Mucumber's faithful pet lizard also helps to keep the mood from getting too heavy. For the youngest fans of dark humor. —Julie RoachCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.