The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

David, Lawrence

The Land of Hungry Armadillos

32 pp. | Doubleday | May, 2000 | Trade ISBN 0-385-32698-X $$15.95

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Frederique Bertrand. A vindictive brother trades his little sister to Zub, a big red creature, for some paper and crayons but then wants to renege on the bargain when he misses her too much. While this Faustian story employs realistic dialogue to portray the sibling relationship, the message is heavy-handed: "you were a greedy, selfish boy who wasn't thinking about his sister." Some of the childlike illustrations are painted or drawn on ledger paper.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt