SPAGHETTI EDDIE

Spaghetti makes the world go round; leastwise it does in this silly, jazzy tale that tips its hat to the unconventional in us. Eddie is mad about spaghetti. He eats it every day, with Sunday off for ravioli. On the day readers meet Eddie, he’s sent to the grocery store to buy frosting for the cake for his father’s surprise party. Eddie trundles off on the errand with a trusty bowl of spaghetti tucked into the crook of his arm. Along the way, he deploys the spaghetti to help friends and neighbors: to mend a broken shoelace, to come to the aid of a fisherman, to substitute for the strings of a guitar that have broken. His remedies seem awfully strange, but they are accepted with only a raised eyebrow and tomato-stained fingers. When Eddie finally makes it to the store, it’s in the midst of a robbery. Does Freddie lasso the thief with a long strand? No, the spaghetti is finished, but he does bring the culprit down with a mighty meatball toss. By the time he makes it home with the frosting, all the folks Eddie has helped along the way are there, spreading the word of his offbeat solutions. The story has a good, zippy tempo and the waggish art makes it all seem possible, capturing Eddie in his cool, maverick glory. (Picture book. 4-7)