Title: ALA Peanut Butter Sandwiches Penny Lambert
Author: Penny Lambert
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-5434-7746-7
Pages: 24
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book / Juvenile Fiction
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Pacific Book Review
Beginning with the classical “Once upon a time,” author Penny Lambert tells the story of a little girl named Petunia. In this fanciful book, Petunia eats a peanut butter sandwich which unknowingly had a fly on it, and she eats the fly! Well, with the fly in her tummy she then begins to fly – up off the ground, over the town and only when the fly gets bumped out of her belly, she floats down to the surface and tells her mother about her ordeal.
Cute and funny, this story will make sense to the toddlers being read this story, and the artful illustrations add just the right amount of detail to bring this story to life. On page 16 is an illustration of a happy fly, laughing with a peanut-butter smile, a complete nonsensical picture which is worth buying the book just to see! The story is filled with happy images of sun shining, birds flying, lots of smiles and it shows Petunia with a headdress made of a flowery round colorful detail. Yes, she is a bit on the chubby side, but that gives her a reality in which a girl who loves peanut butter sandwiches so much would most likely be, a pretty and plump Petunia. The pace of the story is such that kids will surely want to be told this story time again – quick and to the point. They’ll likely laugh each time they see that picture of the fly inside her tummy.
In the competitive space of the illustrated children’s book genre, Penny Lambert mastered the elements needed to bring together an original story to life. As Petunia is certainly a memorable and somewhat silly character for kids to identify with, this adventure stands on its own merit. It may answer a hypothetical question of what would happen if a kid accidentally ate a fly; as we adults know toddlers do not understand how reality differs from fantasy.
The book is well suited to be an ideal gift for any baby shower as its appeal will be for boys and girls alike. And of course, judging from that amazing picture in the book of the fly, it is very happy with a feast of peanut butter to munch on, even if it has to carry the weight of a plump Petunia around town!
