TOMATOES FROM MARS

The creators of Whitefish Will Rides Again! (1994) try again, with less-than-clever results. When first Minneapolis, then the Earth, is invaded by giant tomatoes from Mars, the crackpot scientist Dr. Shtickle heads off a worldwide schmear with the discovery that a shpritz of salad dressing sends the overgrown beefsteaks barreling back from whence they came. Drucker casts Einstein as Shtickle, Jason Robards as the President, and the house-sized tomatoes, of which no more than three or four are ever visible at once, as rather enigmatic invaders silently hovering over panicked crowds or an occasional pink, juice-streaked building. Readers may be momentarily amused, but the idea of humongous food is put to funnier, more imaginative use in books such as David Wiesner’s June 19, 1999 (1992) and Judi and Ron Barrett’s Pickles To Pittsburgh (1997). (Picture book. 6-8)