Peanut Butter & Cupcake

Border takes ordinary household objects, gives them arms and legs made of wire, and takes brightly-lit, close-up photographs of the results. His first picture book stars a slice of bread slathered with peanut butter who's new to the neighborhood and needs a friend. His blobby wire hands and feet are inherently funny, and his gestures are remarkably human. Peanut Butter wanders around with a soccer ball singing his signature invitational tune: "I'll make you chuckle deep down in your belly/ And we'll go together like Peanut Butter and..." He's looking for jelly, of course, but he meets some other characters first. He recites his rhyme to a pink-iced confection shoveling in a sandbox, finishing, "And we'll go together like Peanut Butter and... Cupcake!" "[D]on't hit my castle with your ball or I'll be mad!" she snaps. An egg on a unicycle, French fries, and even a jump-roping meatball will divert readers until Peanut Butter finds the friend he's looking for. Despite the predictability of the storyline, Border's witty food comedy will lure children who are hungry for clever visual entertainment.


PreS-Gr 2Through photographic images of manipulated 3-D objects, Border, who is the mastermind of the Bent Objects Project, crafts hilarity in this new picture book. The hero is a peanut butterlathered piece of white bread with bent paperclips for arms and legs. Bored with playing solo soccer, Peanut Butter wanders his new neighborhood, requesting companionship in a repeated rhyme with an ending that alters to accommodate each neighbor: "we'll go together like Peanut Butter and...Hamburger" (who happens to be walking two hot dogs). The suspense builds, as readers realize how things should come together. In the end, Peanut Butter and Jelly bring the entire food team together to play. Border's goalposts made of forks and a meatball skipping a spaghetti rope are only a few of the creatively zany photographs that will make this a read-aloud hit


The familiar theme of the challenges facing a new kid in town is given an original treatment by photographer Border in this book of photos of three-dimensional objects in a simple modeled landscape.

Peanut Butter is represented by a slice of white bread spread with the popular condiment. The other characters in the story--a hamburger with a pair of hot dogs in tow, a bowl of alphabet soup, a meatball jumping a rope of spaghetti, a carton of French fries and a pink cupcake--are represented by skillfully crafted models of these foods, anthropomorphized using simple wire construction. Rejected by each character in turn in his search for playmates, Peanut Butter discovers in the end that Jelly is his true match (not Cupcake, as the title suggests), perhaps because she is the only one who looks like him, being a slice of white bread spread with jelly. The friendly foods end up happily playing soccer together. Some parents may have trouble with the unabashedly happy depiction of carbs and American junk food (no carrots or celery sticks in this landscape), and others may find themselves troubled by the implication that friendship across difference is impossible.

Still, preschoolers will likely savor this mouthwatering treatment of a subject that looms large in many early school experiences. (Picture book. 3-6)


Peanut Butter has just moved to a new town and wants to make some new friends. But when he approaches Hamburger, Cupcake, French Fries and others, they are too busy to play. Finally he meets the perfect friend. Young children reading or listening to this story will already know who this will be. Jelly of course! Peanut Butter is an actual slice of bread with peanut butter spread on it. He has bent wire arms and legs as does all the other characters in this book. Since the illustrations are created with photographs, the characters are realistic and fun. This book would be a great read-aloud on friendship and food. Susan Black, Educational Reviewer, Arlee, Montana [Editor's Note: Available in e-book format.]
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