There's a Time and Place for EVERYTHING! Spork by Kyo Maclear

SPORK WAS NEITHER SPOON NOR FORK, BUT A BIT OF BOTH.

HE HAD A MUM AND A DAD WHO BOTH THOUGHT HE WAS PERFECT.

But they were the only ones. He didn't fit any of the compartments in the cutlery tray--except that short, fat one where bottle and can openers and unidentifiable widgets are tossed, not nested, higglety-pigglety.

CUTLERY CUSTOMS WERE FOLLOWED CLOSELY

Sport tried to fit in. He tried a derby hat to make him look more spoonlike. He tried a little crown to look fork-ish. The real spoons and forks spurned his efforts to fit in. He envied the spoons their ability to scoop soup and the forks their skill at twirling pastas. But Spork was for neither fish nor fowl nor soup to nuts. He never got to enjoy the soapy swim in the dishpan after dinner with the others. But then a new diner arrived.

THE MESSY THING APPEARED AT THE TABLE. IT KNEW NOTHING OF CUTLERY.

IT SMEARED AND SPILLED AND DRIPPED!

This messy eater needed something different, and it's SPORK TO THE RESCUE!

There is a time and place for everything, and Spork finds his best place in the highchair tray, in Kyo Maclear's subtle tale of tableware, Spork (Kids Can Press). Kids will instantly empathize with a character excluded from the group, and, of course, Spork represents more than appears on the surface, perhaps being the multi-cutlery metaphor for a multi-cultural world. Artist Isabelle Arsenault's less-is-more multi-media illustrations are humorous and engaging, and author Maclear make her point that differences serve us well without the bitter taste of didacticism. Says Kirkus Reviews, "Maclear's text feels nearly effortless. The inanimate-object identification also pairs brilliantly with Arsenault's melding of mixed media and digital art."