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Summary
Summary
Once upon a time, on a long, slow trip to Scotland, a little girl named Katerina-Elizabeth tossed her oatmeal overboard--again, and again, and again. She was a picky eater, and oatmeal was her least favorite food.
And once upon a time, a small worm, no bigger than a piece of thread, swam alongside an ocean liner bound for Scotland and ate bowl after bowl of tossed oatmeal. He had never tasted anything as wonderful as oatmeal in his whole life. A. W. Flaherty and Scott Magoon unravel the Loch Ness legend in this whimsical picture book for the picky (and not-so-picky) eater in all of us.
Author Notes
SCOTT MAGOON is an art director who has written and illustrated several acclaimed picture books, including Hugo and Miles in I've Painted Everything. He lives in Reading, Massachusetts. A. W. Flaherty is a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who also teaches at Harvard Medical School. She is the author of The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain. A. W. lives with her husband and twin daughters near Boston.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Marbled endpapers paired with sepia-tinted illustrations help to create an old-fashioned setting for this timeless tale that is set in the days when people wore greatcoats and hats and traveled on ocean liners. A girl is traveling alone to visit her grandmother in Scotland. Trouble arises when she tosses her dreaded morning oatmeal overboard, only to attract the attention of a tiny sea worm that gobbles it up and immediately quadruples in size. With endless meals of oatmeal tossed overboard, the creature grows larger and larger as does its friendship with the child. Once the ship arrives in Scotland, it proceeds up the River Ness. This pourquoi tale about how the Loch Ness Monster came to be has a lot of imagination and wonderful storytelling techniques. Dark, cartoonlike watercolors exhibit an excellent use of perspective. The simple, yet quirky narrative is nicely paired with a clever and creative layout. A folksy tale that should enjoy broad appeal.-Judy Chichinski, Skyline Elementary School, Tacoma, WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Mark Twain would have approved of this tall tale, which posits that the Loch Ness monster began life as a "tiny sea worm... no longer than your thumbnail." Luckily for the worm, an American girl named Katerina-Elizabeth travels to Scotland on an ocean liner in 1925. "Katerina-Elizabeth found, sadly, that her parents had ordered oatmeal for her every day," and she prefers other provisions. Under the baleful eye of a Charles Addams-ish waitress, the picky girl jettisons bowls of oatmeal into the sea, and the worm enjoys many hearty breakfasts. Magoon (Hugo and Miles in I've Painted Everything!) renders these scenes in a '20s palette of sepia brown, murky gray and briny green, showing the worm becoming a large, snakelike creature that ripples alongside the ship. At the destination, Loch Ness, the monster-to-be misses Katerina-Elizabeth but gets a pleasant surprise: "All along the lake the next morning, the worm heard the plop of oatmeal being hurled by children out the windows of their thatched cottages." (Just wait 'til the tourists try haggis.) A neurologist, Flaherty (The Midnight Disease) spins her debut children's yarn in a deadpan voice that gives added oomph to her hyperbole (Nessie grows "as long as the main hall of an elementary school"). Her wry tone and Magoon's droll watercolors lend unexpected charm to the mystery monster, so fond of good nutrition and so helpful to finicky eaters. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Child and monster connect in this airy tale of interspecies friendship. Discovering to her disgust that she's getting oatmeal for breakfast every morning while crossing the Atlantic on a liner, young Katerina-Elizabeth takes matters into her own hands by chucking the mess out the nearest porthole. One's mess is another's delicacy, though, and the tiny ocean worm that feeds on the sludge is soon following the ship, chowing down on each morning's treat and growing like Topsy. By the time the voyage ends in Scotland, the creature is "as thick as an elephant's belly and as long as the main hall of an elementary school." And too big to leave the lake. But though oatmeal is no longer forthcoming from Katerina-Elizabeth, there are plenty of other children around Loch Ness to provide it, along with likewise discarded haggis and suet pudding. Magoon places a small, red-headed lass amid elegant Edwardian surroundings and depicts the monster as a sort of ropy tadpole with a large head and a friendly expression. Both will charm readers, whether picky eaters or no. (Picture book. 7-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Who would guess that the explanation for the Loch Ness monster involves oatmeal? Read on. When Katerina-Elizabeth's parents send her off on an ocean liner to visit her grandmother in Scotland, they plan her meals in advance; breakfast is always oatmeal, her least favorite food. The first day out, the girl tossses breakfast overboard; a sea worm gobbles it up. Every day, the same thing happens, and the worm grows larger and larger. When the boat reaches Scotland, the worm continues up the river to Loch Ness, searching for its favorite treat. When a Scottish miss calls the sea worm a monster, the worm looks at itself; it's now thick as an elephant's belly and long as the hall of an elementary school just the sort of critter that tourists love to see. Comic illustrations, colored in a murky, sepia palette and created in pen and digital color, give the book an appropriately period look, and Magoon makes great use of sly expressions on characters and monster alike. Picky eaters will love the premise and the oatmeal revolt.--Cummins, Julie Copyright 2007 Booklist