Those beings living in the wild, especially those with a handy escape plan like wings, have learned how to more easily acquire food from children (or unobservant adults). If you are not aware of how their minds work, you find yourself in an unwelcome situation. Don't Feed the COOS! (Henry Holt and Company, February 25, 2020) written by Jonathan Stutzman with illustrations by Heather Fox presents this exact situation in one comic moment after the other. (You can't even say the title without laughing, can you?)When you see a coo,
you will be tempted
to give it a treat.
At first glance a coo appears the very picture of charmingly cute. Under no circumstances whatsoever are you to succumb to this temptation to give them food, because if you do, your life will change without hope of returning to normalcy. Feeding even one triggers a signal for all the other coos to converge.
As you run willy-willy to escape the crowd of coos, they follow you as surely as if one of them planted a tracking device on you. The look on your mother's face when you arrive at home with this coo company is not one of happiness. All your usual planned activities now include the coos. There is no freedom from this flock.
As everyone knows, what goes in, must come out. Yes, those coos are pooing everywhere. No surface is safe. As you look at all the coos' poo, you find yourself on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Every brainstorm to rid yourself of these coos is a bust. What's a person to do?
You could welcome the outcome of feeding one coo. You could welcome them into your life like your new best friends. This might include taking them to the park for walks. And there you and all those coos will experience the wonder of your ingenuity.
Truthfully, it is all I can do to write this post without laughing non-stop. The first two sentences written by author Jonathan Stutzman give no clue as to what will follow but are the perfect set-up for the third and fourth sentences. Each subsequent portion of the narrative is truer than you can imagine. Perhaps, this is what makes it so humorous. When the story launches into the unavoidable result of feeding coos (all the poo), it's the veracity of this which makes it off-the-charts funny. The listing of attempts to get rid of them will have your sides aching with the hilarity and provides for the contrast in the attitude switch. Every turn leads to the surprising twist. Here is a passage.
And to thank you
for feeding them, the coos
will
leave
poos.
One look at the right, front, of the open dust jacket instantly generates suspense. What are those coos going to do? Their wide-eyed looks at the girl and at us are strangely startling and funny at the same time. The child is clearly thinking---YIKES! The bright colors, definitive lines and stylized shapes on the white canvas have our undivided attention. The neon orange title text is raised to the touch.
On the other side of the neon orange spine is a pale purple background. In a large font in white we read:
WE
WARNED
YOU.
Perched on the e in warned is a single gray coo. The book case is a delicate blue. Three coos are featured on both the front and the back.
On the opening and closing endpapers are six rows of twelve coos. They are positioned to show us one side. Two of the coos appear to be winking at us as the others stare wide-eyed. The colors for these endpapers are hues of blue and purple. With a page turn a single gray coo is positioned on white saying
COO.
On the verso and title pages coos are in flight, left to right, chasing after the girl, on the right, running to rid herself of the coos.
These digitally created illustrations by Heather Fox are full of personality. Heather Fox uses white space to great effect. It heightens the narrative and adds to the pacing and drama. At times another background color is used for emphasis.
Heather Fox alters her image sizes to enhance interest, moving from two-page pictures, to full-page visuals and groups of smaller illustrations on a single page. Every detail she includes showcases the comedy in this protagonist's situation. Her brilliance shines in the pages in which the girl is doing everything she can plot to evade and chase away the coos. I love how the girl's eyes and her wearing glasses seems to mirror the eyes of the coos. I also found the sign in the park and its similarity to the front of the dust jacket perfect.
One of my many, many favorite illustrations spans two pages. It is an overview of the park with buildings and a roadway on the right portion of the right side. It shows the girl running through the park trying to elude the coos. A dotted red line shows her path as she weaves everywhere. You can expect bursts of laughter as she exits the park and a taxi driver tries to help her. Here, as throughout the book, are bright colors and distinguishing black lines on a white canvas.
The connection established between readers and Don't Feed the COOS! written by Jonathan Stutzman with illustrations by Heather Fox is based on a shared knowledge of birds, especially pigeons, and their constant desire for food. With each page turn the blend of words and illustrations will increase the laughter factor. I know there will be requests for read it again. I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.
To learn more about husband and wife, Jonathan Stutzman and Heather Fox, and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their respective websites. Jonathan Stutzman has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Heather Fox has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher, featured this title along with chats with both creators on his site, Watch. Connect. Read. At the publisher's website you can view interior images.
UPDATE: A book trailer has been released by the publisher.
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