THE RUNAWAY DINNER

Just as a boy named Banjo is about to eat dinner, his sausage, Melvin, jumps up and runs off, accompanied by the dish, fork, knife, carrots (all girls named Caroline, Clara, etc.), peas (all boys named Peter, Percival and Paul) and so on. With a wacky, whimsical narrative that takes as many detours as its participants, Ahlberg’s writing is stylistically accomplished and decidedly British. So, why Americanize the story with French fries and baseball instead of chips and cricket? Ingman’s childlike paintings incorporating ink sketches are expressively and colorfully detailed with personified objects, chronicling the energetic journey from kitchen table to city sidewalk to park pathway and back. Various calamities ensue (a pigeon eats Percival the pea and a duck eats Paul, while the plate becomes a Frisbee), before Banjo sits down to a plum pie for his replacement dinner. More sophisticated in structure than the classic tales and verses that inspired it, this madcap riff is for primary-grade readers—and their clever parents. (Picture book. 5-8)