Lily Boop

A young girl describes her adventures with her unusual friend, Lily Boop, who keeps a pet slug and eats raw eggs for lunch.

Grade 2-4 Newcomer Lily Boop isn't exactly like the rest of the kids in narrator Judy's classher toenails grow a couple of inches each night, she files her unbrushed teeth each morning, has trees flourishing in the dirt floor of her bedroom and lets her whiskers grow out. So the tale rolls on, detailing the eccentricities of Lily's family, and, among other things, their rare taste for onion yogurt, mushroom cookies and tuna pancakes with squash sauce. About the only conflict arises when Lily wants to join Judy's Prize Pets Clubnot as a pet herself, of course, but with her pet slug Beth. Although the humor lacks freshness, this is the type of low-key fantasy that children love to spin among themselves, stretching and exaggerating until they tire of the game and end it abruptly. Hoban's black-and-white childlike drawings that appear on most pages add much to the appeal of the book and help make Lily Boop good for a few giggles. Lee Bock, Brown County Public Libraries, Green Bay, Wis.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In one of the strangest books to come along in a while, Judy meets a new girl in town named Lily Boop. Lily, who is some kind of burrowing animal, surprises the very human Judy with habits that include sharpening her teeth with a file, sucking the raw egg out of cracked shells and owning a pet slug. Even Judy, open-minded as she is, gets nauseated by the thought of the slug growing, the same way puppies become full-grown dogs. However, she loves her friend, and when Lily decides to move back North, where everyone is just like her, she invites Judy along. Judy has to think hard before deciding that being different from everyone else would be hard, and that Lily is brave to have lasted so long with the humans. The lesson is subtly woven into the story: Lily's habits are odd, but no obstacle to friendship. This book will either tickle a very hip reader's funny bone or cause some puzzlement. Hoban's woodcut-like illustrations size up the situation suitably.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.