Freak369's Full Review: Rita Golden Gelman - More Spaghetti, I Say
There weren’t many books that my brood wanted to read over and over again but “More Spaghetti, I Say” was one of them. Even after they outgrew the book they would drag it out when younger kids were around and get them hooked on the story. There is one word of warning that needs to be mentioned before you get this or read it to a child - make sure you don’t serve spaghetti to them after they’ve read it or you might find yourself covered with it. I have no idea where I picked up this book but it is one a handful of early reader books that made the trip across country. It was packed away in an unmarked box and was ‘discovered’ when one of the boys were looking for an old school book. Imagine my surprise when I heard them all giggling and laughing - reading the book out loud and in unison - most of the time not even looking at the words. They’d read it so many times that they remembered almost every page. Yeah, it’s that funny and entertaining.
More Spaghetti, I Say
The story is pretty basic but it’s the way that it is written and the illustrations that go along with it that make it so adorable. It’s the story of Minnie and Freddy; two monkeys that I assume are brother and sister. They do resemble Curious George a little but they are a little more animated. Minnie love spaghetti, so much so that she does nothing but eat it and when she runs out, she makes more. Freddy wants to play and begs Minnie to do so but she’s face down in a bowl of pasta and perfectly content in doing so. When she runs out of spaghetti Freddy thinks that she will finally play with him; he’s wrong! Instead of playing with him, she goes and starts making another pot. she loves it so much that she pits it on everything in the house ...
I love it on pancakes with ice cream and ham.
With pickles and cookies, bananas and jam.
I love it with mustard and marshmallow stuff.
I eat it all day. I just can’t get enough.
She goes on to further proclaim her love of the spaghetti all the while Freddy is begging her over and over again to play with him. Then something strange happens, Freddy grabs the bowl of spaghetti and starts throwing it all over the place having what I would call a pretty nasty temper tantrum. When he’s done he sees that his sister doesn’t look all that well and he suggests that he should take the rest of the spaghetti away. When she starts to feel better she tells Freddy that she is ready to play but the joke is on her. That’s when Freddy discovers exactly why Minnie loves spaghetti so much - now he’s hooked on eating it and doesn’t want to play. There are no ‘he said’, ‘she said’, ‘Freddy said’ or ‘Minnie said’ parts in the book so younger kids might be a little confused as to who is talking in some parts but that is where the illustrations come in - who ever is talking is featured on the page. This format sort of forces kids to read and study the illustration but it will benefit them in the long run when they move on to other more complex reader books.
One of the funniest illustrations is when Freddy is watching Minnie pour more spaghetti into the pot, you see him from a side view and he has his finger on his chin - the only thing is that it looks like he’s giving Minnie the middle finger. This wasn’t something that I picked up on but something that one of the boys asked me about. “Mum, Freddy’s a bad monkey”. When I asked him why he said that he flipped to the page and showed me the drawing, it took me a couple of seconds to get it but when I did I had to laugh. Sometimes adults read a book like this an miss such obvious things - so make sure if you are reading this with your child and they look at this page a little funny that you take the time to explain that Freddy is just thinking and not giving his sister an obscene finger gesture.
The Hello Reader Series
This book is part of the Hello Reader series and is written for children from the K- Grade 2 level; other titles include; “Roller Skates!”, “The Sword And The Stone”, “Two Crazy Pigs”, “All Tutus Should Be Pink” and “The Wrong Way Rabbit”. The series spans from the preschool level with colorful and educational flashcards to the Level 4 readers for kids in the second and third grade. These books are entertaining and help kids get a lot from what they are reading. Most of them are priced below $3.95 so if you come across a title that your child loves, getting others in the series won’t be a huge investment.
The Bottom Line
This was a book that read over and over by the boys - they loved the way the story flowed and the way things rhymed. I wasn’t all that impressed by it but then again, I am an adult [by age only] so how appealing can a book like this be to someone like me. The illustrations are very simple but get the point across and Minnie and Freddy are a complete handful to have to deal with. One of the funniest things that happened was when my youngest heard the story for the first time he got the bright idea to fling his spaghetti all over the table - that’s when we had a nice little talk about how monkeys don’t really eat spaghetti and there is no kitchen fairy that comes and cleans stuff up. Even though he made a mess, I had to snicker when they all left the table. At least he was eating his with butter and cheese instead of sauce ... it could have been a lot worse otherwise!
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