To understand my feelings on Frankenslime by Joy Keller you must understand a personality quirk: I can “taste” the words. Not physically of course, but I like to chew on them in my mind. And they started out dry. Very dry. Where was this obviously Frankenstein (and later you will see The Blob references) spoof going? When the dog named Igor is the best thing, you hope it picks up. When I realized that the ending was going to be an almost pee-your-pants funny, I relaxed, and the story had a positive taste to the vibe coming from it.
Our young heroine, Victoria Franken, creates slime. All kinds of slime. But normal slime starts to get boring. Along with her trusty Igor, she decides to experiment. And the results are a slime so special, it is downright dangerous! Or is it?
This colorfully illustrated by Ashley Belote picture book is clever, humorous, and educational. Everything is bright, funny, detailed to the extreme but also what is needed. There are the images of the board Victoria uses to keep her thoughts in order, we see the fun of the slime (and the misadventures). We see the diversity of the characters and we find the final showdown between girl and slime. It all comes together with the text to make a fun read all year round.
Victoria’s slime recipes are also included at the end. And while I have not tried them, I am assuming that the secret ingredient that has a special role is not included.
Summer 2022 Valentine’s gets its own book.