Toy Chest Showdown: Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton

I'M GOING TO CHOO-CHOO YOU UP AND SPIT YOU OUT!

HA! I'M GOING TO FINISH YOU, MACKEREL BREATH!

WHO WILL WIN?

Two boys pick their champions from the jumble in the toy chest, and the two unlikely gladiators face off. Shark vs. Train? Sure. When two young guys sublimate their aggression through their very fertile imaginations, it's sure to be the virtual face-off of the century.

Shark has his strengths. At a trick-or-treat shootout, costumed in a polka-dotted and tasseled hat, he's got just the snaggle-toothed smile to cop all the candies. "The clown is very hungry,” he smirks sinisterly to the grownups passing out goodies, while Train's trick bag goes treatless. In a best-carnival-ride contest, Train takes the trophy when he appropriates the roller coaster rails for a thrilling ride. Train rocks at the game of Cabooses and Ladders, Trainial Pursuit, and Tracktionary and is the clear champ at roasting marshmallows (no contest when you have a head of steam up), but Shark captures the hot air balloon ascension match and takes the high-diving contest while Train's caboose is still stuck on the diving board. Then, in a questionable decision, Shark claims a strike for chomping all the bowling pins into splinters: "That counts as a strike, right?" he snarls at Train. “This is why you guys have a bad reputation,” is Train's steamy comeback.

Some of the matches are a draw. Train and Shark both stink at a not-getting-shushed contest in the library. And while duking it out at the video game of Extreme Zombie, it's soon Game Over with a score of 0 to 0.

TRAIN: "SURE WOULD HELP IF WE HAD THUMBS"

SHARK: "YEP."

It's a toy story standoff by the time Mom finally calls a truce with a "Time for lunch!" The two little boys toss the toys into the box and take off, but the trash talk continues from beneath the tangle in the chest:

SHARK: "NEXT TIME YOU'RE HISTORY, SOOT SPEWER!"

TRAIN: "NEXT TIME YOU'RE SUNK, SQUID SLURPER!"

Imagination takes these tykes as far as they want to go in Chris Barton's hilarious new Shark vs. Train (Little Brown, 2010), choicely illustrated with cartoonish elan by Tom Lichtenheld. For slightly older kids than John Scieszka's Trucktown series or Kate McMullan's I Stink! or I'm Bad!, this work of pure guy genius pairs up well with other boy toy story tag team sagas such as Jon Scieszka's and David Shannon's team-up on Robot Zot! for a rock 'em sock 'em kid-pleasing dynamic duo!

King of Wheels! Trucker and Train by Hannah Stark

TRUCKER LOVED TO RULE THE ROAD.

He loves to roar down the road. He loves to see the little vehicles--mopeds, compact cars, and the petite pick-ups scurry to get out of his lane.

HONNNK! goes his big klaxen, clearing the way for his big wheels to roll past them all.

But then, cresting the hill, Trucker sees something that makes even him take notice. WOOOOOOO! WHOOOOOO!

What's that? Trucker hits the gas and speeds up. It's Train!

TRUCKER GAWKED AT THE 2... 4.... 7... 8... 10 CARS PULLED BY TRAIN'S BIG BLACK ENGINE.

Train is fast, and his whistle is louder than Trucker's horn! There's a crossing ahead. Trucker has to brake, and so do the mo-peds, cars, and little pick-ups. Trucker is rumbling and grumbling.

WHY ARE WE THE ONES STOPPING?

Trucker roars off, heading up the mountain at full throttle, but as Train zooms by, Trucker's engine is forced to slow down on the steep slope. He grows angry as even the mo-peds pass him on the grade, and he can't wait to outrun them and beat Train all on the way down the mountain. But when he reaches the peak, he spots something far ahead that makes even his loud klaxen quail!

A BROKEN-OFF GATE!

WHAT IF NO ONE STOPS?

It's a real race now, not to win, but to get to the crossing and block the tracks to save the other little vehicles, in Hannah Stark's latest, Trucker and Train (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Clarion, 2019). Size and speed are useful in more than one way, and Trucker is everyone's hero. Stark's little parable of power is portrayed perfectly by Bob Kolar's simple geometrically-shaped rivals, set against bright white pages, each with its own job to do and his own way to do it. As Kirkus Reviews puts it, "Grab your CBs and hold onto your whistle. In this battle of truck vs. train, the true winners are the readers."

For more pun-filled power struggles, pair this one with Chris Barton's comic tale of those toy-box titans, Shark vs. Train (see review here).

Curb Your Enthusiasml! Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale

CLARK THE SHARK LOVED SCHOOL, AND HE LOVED HIS TEACHER MRS. INKYDINK.

OF ALL THE FISH AT THEODORE ROOSTERFISH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, THE BIGGEST AND STRONGEST WAS CLARK THE SHARK!

Clark's enthusiasm for the school experience knows no bounds... and that's the problem.

"Lunchtime! Sweeeet!" he yells as he inhales all of his lunch and most of his tablemates' grub as well. His big voice drowns out even the teacher, and at recess Clark's cowabunga style dissuades the other students from even approaching the swings and slides.

There such a thing as too much of a good thing, and Clark's over-enthusiasm for everything is overwhelming for his friends and and a bit over the top for even his veteran teacher, Mrs. Inkydink. Clark is making waves. In fact, he's a dorsal-finned tsunami!

"SOMETIMES THE RULE IS STAY COOL IN SCHOOL!" SHE SAID.

But how can Clark keep that rule in mind? Every time the class transitions into a different activity, Clark's runaway enthusiasm makes a mess of everyone else's efforts. Then Clark begins to coach himself silently.

STAY COOL IN SCHOOL. HEY! THAT RHYMES!

Putting school rules into rhyme works!  Soon Clark has concocted couplets for everything he needs to remember about being a good citizen in his class. Only your own lunch is yours to munch! No walking while Mrs. Inkydink is talking, he reminds himself, and it helps.  The class and the teacher relax. Whew!

Bruce Hale's latest, Clark the Shark (Harper, 2013), points up what is a hard transition to classroom etiquette for some rookie students,  learning not to overwhelm others with your own wants and ideas. And it's just in time for Clark the Shark, because a new student appears, Sid the Squid, whose size intimidates even Clark and who has his many hands all over everything in the room! Now it's time for Clark to teach this newbie the rules for a cool school! Hale's rhymes and Guy Francis' cartoon illustrations of an undersea school, nicely executed in watery palette and wavy lines, offer plenty of fun while the premise makes its point that everyone in a group needs to be considerate of all the others--a good message to keep in mind for back-to-school time!

Pair this one with Tom Lichtenheld's comic Shark vs. Train for a twosome of over-enthusiastic shark tales.

Seriously Seeking Combustion! Fire Truck Vs. Dragon by Chris Barton

Fire and water don't mix, so when a fire-breathing dragon and a fire truck meet, there's some serious conflagration confrontation to be expected. At least, that's what the kids expect at the summer camp's campfire event.

"I KNOW, RIGHT?" SAID DRAGON. "WHAT ARE DRAGONS REALLY GOOD AT? IT'S OBVIOUS."

"AND," ADDED FIRE TRUCK, "WHAT ARE FIRE TRUCKS REALLY, REALLY REALLY GOOD AT?"

But when the camper kiddos assemble for the campfire, their pointy branches carefully whittled down to hold melted morsels of marshmallow goodness, what do they see? There's barely a flame to toast those tasty treats.

The mighty Dragon and the high-powered fire engine are all palsy-walsy, and echew a fire and water fight. They chit-chat about how popular they are at barbeques! The same chummy conversations continue when the kids congregate for a cookout, where Dragon and Fire Truck enthuse about their potato salad and Firehouse baked beans. At the birthday pinata party, where Dragon eschews a dramatic lighting the birthday cake candles, and settles for just whacking the pinata with his tail. Fire Truck cheerily catches the falling candies for the children's convenience. Where's the fun in THAT?

"IT MIGHT SURPRISE YOU THAT A FIRE TRUCK AND A DRAGON CAN IN FACT BE GOOD FRIENDS," OBSERVED DRAGON.

But the kids are definitely disappointed. Fire Truck and Dragon point out that Fire Truck is great fun at water parks, and Dragon provides super pre-heated blankets in winter, but the kids are still downcast. They were clearly hoping for some fiery combustion and fire extinction demos. More smoke and splash, not recipes and forever friends stuff.

So what are Fire Truck and Dragon to do? They give in to their fans and fake a fiery flash and and full-force water fight, in Chris Barton's Fire Truck vs. Dragon (Little, Brown and Company, 2020), illustrated enthusiastically by artist Shanda McCloskey. Share this one with author Chris Barton's runaway best seller, Shark vs. Train (Read my review here)

Jokes Kirkus Reviews, "The ultimate showdown gets waylaid by an inconvenient friendship.

Time for a Brief-ing! One Big Pair of Underwear by Laura Gehl and Tom Lichtenheld

ONE BIG PAIR OF UNDERWEAR.

TWO LITTLE BROWN BEARS WHO HATE TO SHARE.

ONE BEAR WEARS THE UNDERWEAR.

ONE BEAR CRIES, "THIS ISN'T FAIR!"

Right away you can see where this one is going.

In Laura Gehl's new One Big Pair of Underwear (Beach Lane Books, 2014), the author's silly verses set forth the situation: somebody's sure to get shorted when the supply of briefs is tight in the whitie department!

And they're not the only ones. While Gehl is counting up the critters, each batch is one short of a match!

There are three yaks with backpacks, but only two sacks of snacks. Alack!

With only three scooters painted teal and four pale seals ready to ride, one seal has to steal a set of wheels.

It only gets worse as the count goes up:

SEVEN JET SKIS, SHINY BLUE.

EIGHT COWS CRAVE SOMETHING NEW.

SEVEN COWS CALL "MOO-HOO-HOO!"

ONE HOT COW STEWS: "MOO-BOO-HOO!"

And the shortage persists as the numbers grow.

Ten baboons battle over nine trombones. Nine get in line and sound so fine:

NINE BABOONS MARCH WITH THE BAND.

ONE BABOON GETS LESS THAN PLANNED.

One baboon stuck with only a triangle to ting is a sad thing! But... wait! A solution is in sight!

Twenty pink pigs wanting a playground slide are stuck with only ten slides to ride. Now what?

It's pigs to the rescue! Piggyback is the only way to go, and the rest of the crew take their cue from the pigs' two-by-two. Even the little bears figure out how to double up in those tightie whities, and with that plug for sharing, all's well that ends well.

With the certified silly illustrations of Tom Lichtenheld, who did the best-selling artistic honors for Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site, Shark vs. Train, and Everything I Know About Pirates. and newcomer Laura Gehl's quirky couplets to do the counting up, the end product is a rib-tickling Seussian-style story-in-rhyme that kids will care to share again and again. You can count on it.

April Fool? That's Not BUNNY! by Chris Barton

FROM HIGH IN HIS PERCH, HAWK WAITED FOR A CHANCE.

IN THE GARDEN BELOW, A MOVEMENT CAUGHT HIS EYE. DOWN HE SPED.

A hungry hawk has staked out a vegetable garden. No, he's not stalking the wild asparagus. There's bound to be a rabbit there sooner or later, he figures, and that means dinner! With a rabbit finally in his sights, Hawk dives, thrusts out his talons, shrieks a cry of victory, and soars back to his nest, ready to do the raptor captor thing.

But, WHAT TH'...???

In his talons is a super-sized carrot.

His prey, a plump and tender rabbit toodling to his hole with a barrow full of veggies, has grabbed the nearest garden product and used it for a hawk shield.

Hawk leaves the carrot and returns to his perch for another try. Ah, here comes that wascally wabbit waddling wight by with his wee wittle wheelbarrow.

SWOOSH! SHRIEK! OOooops!

Hawk pulls up from his dive to discover his claws grasping--a cucumber? A cuke fluke?

A third attack comes up with a head of lettuce. It's a nice one, but still...

OH, COME ON! I JUST HUNTED A HEAD OF LETTUCE?

As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. And when Hawk winds up with a nest full of potential side dishes, is he gonna make a salad? It's a veritable vegetarian day for this raptor in Chris Barton's newest, That's Not Bunny! (Disney Hyperion, 2016). Barton's old-fashioned comic characters have the retro look and sound of 1960s Saturday morning cartoons that will tickle young readers' funny-bunny bones. "Perfect for reading aloud, this is a great addition to picture book collections," says School Library Journal.

Chris Barton is also the author-illustrator of the top-selling Shark vs. Train (read my review here).