Get To Know Meno

I do not know what to say about Spiderwick Chronicles author Tony DiTerlizzi’s new picture book, Adventure of Meno: Wet Friend (written with his wife, Angela). A week has gone by. Xxtra Small has frozen in space, book review-less, because I do not know what to say about this book. Men have died and the mice have eaten them, because … OK, that last is an exaggeration, but you get the picture. Meno is a charming, even elflike, ’50s-retro boy/alien. He’s got a be-spectacled floating octopus for a friend and a problem: The octopus wants a “wet friend.” That would be a friend who can live in water—not that the octopus does, but so be it. The friend is eventually granted by a creature named Wishi, an adorable thing just begging to be the next Care Bear, but not before Wishi offers a number of alternatives, including plankton, crab, and David Hasselhoff. I laughed—who wouldn’t?—but what’s truly crazy is that my kids laughed, too. The book is delivered in a weird, mock-Japanese-style cadence (“Please to meet Wishi. She make wish true”) that I struggled to find an explanation for, and finally just accepted. This is a surreal, goofy little book that it’s hard not to enjoy. But if it’s not your style of humor, I’d leave it on the shelf—because my kids were enchanted, and they want to hear it again.

Fear Factor: (None here.)
Heart: (Meno and friend octopus may want a friend, but this is far more about humor than heart.)
Attitude: (You are pleased to be kidding?)
Psst: DiTerlizzi’s blog essentially says these started off as a goof for friends, but since he clearly has a near-magical handle on what kids like, they’re now available in a bookstore near you.
If you like this: Nothing would do but more Adventure of Meno: Big Fun (although you might just want to know that Meno’s definition of “big fun” includes big, charmingly depicted, farts).