Hello, friends! Today’s book is I Will Not Eat You by Adam Lehrhaupt and Scott Magoon, a suspenseful story of a cave-dwelling monster with an appetite.

Theodore lives in a deep, dark cave, and spends his days staring out at the world with his glowing yellow eyes. As he watches the creatures of his forest pass by the mouth of the cave, he considers each noisy animal as a potential meal, ultimately deciding that he is not hungry enough to eat any of them – yet (the animals, for their part, are quite rude about it – instead of thanking Theodore for sparing them, they keep running away in fright!). At last, a bold little creature approaches – a boy with a wooden sword approaches the cave, lets out a might roar, and then has the audacity to POKE Theodore on the nose. Well, obviously, this will be the meal for Theodore, but as he chases the boy through the forest to devour him, a rather unexpected thing happens. Suddenly, Theodore realizes that he may have found more than just a meal…

So I’ll be honest, I had mixed feelings on this one. The first reading with JJ went okay: the art is dark and gorgeous yet full of humor, and the length is fine, but the twist and the ending were a little abrupt for us. However, after a second flip-through, the deadpan humor grew on me, and I noticed a clever lesson in learning to laugh at the things that frighten you, as well as to open yourself up to new friendships that may take you out of your comfort zone (or cave, as the case may be). However, there is still one thing that nags at me: little boy, WHY WOULD YOU POKE THAT DRAGON?! I get that he was trying to get the dragon to play, but it seemed like a rather poor decision on his part (when faced with danger, maybe don’t poke it). Otherwise, it was a darkly humorous story that JJ and I enjoyed, and it’s Baby Bookworm approved!