Laurel Snyder Month

It is officially the first annual Laurel Snyder September on my blog! Hooray! You may be asking yourself: Why does Laurel Snyder get a whole month dedicated to her on this prestigious blog? If that’s the case, you should first make your way to her website and look around. Then purchase some of her books to share with the kids in your life. Now that you have more background, you know that Mrs. Snyder has written some great books for kids. I am dedicating the entire month of September to her books because she is going to be participating in a Skype session with the students at my school in October. Hooray again! So I will be reading her books and writing about them on this blog throughout the month!

The first book I chose is her picture book called Inside the Slidy Diner. I really did not know what to expect from this book. Based on some of the features of the cover, I knew this diner probably wasn’t up-to-code with local health ordnances. I wondered about the lemon drop featured in the girl’s heart-shaped grasp and what it would have to do with the plot. After a few more questions rattled around in my head, I dove into the book.

This story is told from the perspective of a little girl who seems to live in the Slidy Diner. She drags a boy through the establishment and explains what it is like there every day. This mostly includes strange (the man who smells like mice and sleeps in a bowl of oatmeal) and gross (sticky buns that fall to the floor are served again) features. The unnamed protagonist eventually shows the boy how not everything is really as bad as it sounds.

The book does not have much text, but readers are kept moving through the different aspects of the diner with the writing that is present. Even with so few words, there are some great descriptions that really make the reader think, such as when the paint on the walls is described as the “color of your grandma’s slippers.”

I loved the art in this book due to all of the little details that make the setting come to life. The illustrations work well with the sparse text. Readers could pore over these pictures for an extended amount of time and still not notice everything that is happening. The colors that are used work well to set the tone of the story.

Although younger readers who enjoy picture books can read this book, older readers will definitely enjoy the book and have things to think about because of all of the inferences that can be made. I can just see readers asking questions about the characters featured in the story and making up tales about other things that might happen in the diner. I also expect that some of these readers would love the gross-out content, like images of bugs on every page and lady fingers that are…real ladies’ fingers! Overall, I enjoyed Inside the Slidy Diner for its great art and quirky writing. Check out Inside the Slidy Diner from your library today!

Until next time, have a Snydertastic September!