The Child Cruncher

One summer day, while her friends are on vacation and her father is busy, a girl is kidnapped by a villain and looks forward to an adventure, but the villain turns out to be an ordinary child cruncher, and is easily outsmarted.

Kindergarten-Grade 2—A girl sits alone on a swing set, wishing for a playmate. Her father is working inside at his desk, and her friends are all away for the summer. She can't even interest her dog in adventure. Suddenly, she is surprised by a big hairy villain who intends to take her away. Excited by the possibility of a playmate, the child asks her father for permission to be abducted. He says, "Oh, that's fine." So the youngster rides off into the woods with her kidnapper, eager to strike up a friendship. When she finds that the bearded villain is a common child cruncher who intends to eat her, the girl is very disappointed. Not one to be threatened, she jumps on his horse and rides straight home. This protagonist exhibits self-confidence similar to Charlotte, who is featured in Stein's Mine! (2007), and the bubbling child cruncher is as nonthreatening as the monsters along the path in Stein's Brave Ben (2006, both Lemniscaat). The dynamic illustrations are consistent with van Hout's work in those titles. The use of black is limited to the characters' hair and a few details, while the overall page is rendered in hazy pastels. The style serves to reinforce the action in the story while allowing for plenty of details for careful readers to discover. The result is a far-fetched adventure that will have children cheering for their heroine.—Lisa Glasscock, Columbine Public Library, Littleton, CO
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