Noodleheads See the Future

Reviewed by: Jill O'Connor - Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School, Brunswick, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: March 19, 2018

Review

Tedd Arnold, author of Fly Guy, teams up with Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss to bring the antics of the Noodleheads to young readers. Using stories about "noodles" or "noodleheads" from an 1888 publication by W.A. Clouston titled The Book of Noodles, Arnold, Hamilton, and Weiss breath new life into these old tales of fools. Mac and Mac are brothers who, having nothing in their heads but air, take everything at face value. This leads to confusion and frustration, especially for those with whom they cross paths, but the reader will giggle at the absurdity and lack of logic of these macaroni brothers. The book includes three episodes in which Mac and Mac misunderstand the way that the concept of "seeing the future" works all while trying to earn a cake from their mother. The illustrations are large and clear and the text is simple. These are not the brightest pieces of pasta in the box, but they have big hearts and, in the end, they do earn that cake.

Overall Book Score: very good