Children's Book Review: Chester

Chester
Written and illustrated by:  Melanie Watt
Published by:  Kids Can Press, 2007

from goodreads.com:
Chester is more than a picture book. It is a story told, and retold, by dueling author-illustrators.

Melanie Watt starts out with the story of a mouse in a house. Then Melanie's cat, Chester, sends the mouse packing and proceeds to cover the pages with rewrites from his red marker, and the gloves are off. Melanie and her mouse won't take Chester's antics lying down. And Chester is obviously a creative powerhouse with confidence to spare. Where will this war of the picture-book makers lead? Is it a one-way ticket to Chesterville, or will Melanie get her mouse production off the ground?

* This is an interesting and humorous children's book.  It starts off with the author telling the tale of a mouse. However, Chester the cat, pictured on the cover holding a red marker, does some interrupting and editing to the story.  He changes text and illustrations and the author and Chester duel it out over the pages of this picture book.  This isn't necessarily a good read-aloud story.  You need the book in front of you to enjoy the full effect of the book.  My six year old daughter was able to understand and enjoy the humor of the story.  My husband wasn't a big fan.  I enjoyed it though and thought it was a clever and humorous book.  Definitely different than most picture books out there!

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.