New Book

So I ended up in Barnes and Noble this weekend. Ever since my sister got laid off from Borders I've been patronizing the competition. I went in to pick up the Graveyard Book and walked out with a new children's book. I love those silly, colorful, fun stories that make me go Awww and What? at the same time. 

That's what I found with Berkeley Breathed's new story Pete and Pickles. This adorable story is about Pete, a very predictable pig who finds a huge rather impractical elephant hiding in his bedroom. Pickles is an unhappy circus elephant that needs to be saved. Thus starts a friendship that features cliff diving (sort of), Russian acrobats (sort of), and Italian love songs (sort of). The story turns darker when Pete decides that he's ready to go back to the predictable life he had before. The story has a lot of color, a lot of funny scenes, but the ending is very different. There is one page that is simply dark, almost tough, and Breathed uses the tension well. The beginning of the book and the end seem to match even with color choices but the middle is all fun. A cute story with a wonderful ending. 

The illustrations though are what grabbed my attention. Breathed makes Pete silly in a straight laced sort of way. He is trying so hard to be serious that it just is laughable. There is an early scene with him watching TV. He is sitting there with a bow tie and a blank expression that TV watchers get. The emotions on the face of Pete and Pickles really tell the story. There is one sad scene with Pickles at the circus that is enough to break your heart. Pickles is a wonderful character, even if she's not the best houseguest. The combination is fun and the illustration will make anyone laugh out loud.