Troubling tonsils!

Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Collaborators Reynolds and Brown deliver a just-as-creepy new adventure in this satirical chapter book spin-off of the Creepy Carrots series. Young Charlie Marmot is anxious about having his tonsils removed--until he realizes he can bring the two "gross, pulpy masses of flesh" to school for an eerie show-and-tell. As the surgeon readies Charlie for his operation, however, they realize that Charlie's tonsils have inexplicably disappeared from his throat. That night, Charlie awakens "splayed across his desk like a pile of unfinished homework." The youth knows he didn't arrive there himself: Charlie was "plucked from his slumber"--but by whom? While young readers might not clock the Twilight Zone influences, they will no doubt appreciate the pseudo-horror-movie ambiance steeped in silliness. Highfalutin text adds tension and gravitas to the unfolding events, depicted via moody, noir-like b&w illustrations featuring slick, tonsil-pink accents. As in many Twilight Zone episodes, not everything ends well for the protagonist, and readers are left with a finish they won't see coming. Ages 6--9. Author's agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. Illustrator's agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary. (Sept.)

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Review by Horn Book Review

Jasper Rabbit, protagonist of the picture book Creepy Carrots! and its sequels (most recently Creepy Crayon!, rev. 9/22), serves as the Rod Serling-like narrator of this early-chapter-book series opener. "Creepy things lie on the following pages...You may possibly find yourself peeing your pants." Duly warned, readers meet Charlie Marmot, who is scheduled to have his tonsils removed and plans to keep them in a jar for show-and-tell. But when the time comes for the procedure, the tonsils are already missing...and then it gets weirder. The tonsils are sentient, they have their own lines of dialogue, and they're out for revenge. Sophisticated vocabulary and turns of phrase ("regardless of the cause, there are no tonsils currently residing in Charlie's throat") make this title, full of both horror and humor, a good choice for confidently independent readers or for reading aloud together in ominous tones. Mixed-media illustrations, some of them chillingly stark, in a pitch-perfect palette of black-and-white punctuated with tonsil pink, add to the cinematic feel. Hand to readers demanding scary books -- if they're willing to swallow quite the premise. Shoshana FlaxSeptember/October 2025 p.72 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

What terrors lurk within your mouth? Jasper Rabbit knows. "You have stumbled your way into the unknown." The young bunny introduced in Reynolds and Brown's Caldecott Honor--winning picture book,Creepy Carrots (2012), takes up Rod Serling's mantle, and the fit is perfect. Mimicking an episode ofThe Twilight Zone, the book follows Charlie Marmot, an average kid with a penchant for the strange and unusual. He's pleased when his tonsils become infected; maybe once they're out he can take them to school for show and tell! That's when bizarre things start to happen: Noises in the night. Slimy trails on his bedroom floor. And when Charlie goes in for his surgery, he's told that the tonsils have disappeared from his throat; clearly something sinister is afoot. Those not yet ready for Goosebumps levels of horror will find this a welcome starter pack. Reynolds has perfected the tension he employed in his Creepy Tales! series, and partner in crime Brown imbues each illustration with both humor and a delicate undercurrent of dark foreshadowing. While the fleshy pink tonsils--the sole spot of color in this black-and-white world--aren't outrageously gross, there's something distinctly disgusting about them. And though the book stars cute, furry woodland creatures, the spooky surprise ending is 100% otherworldly--a marvelous moment of twisted logic. Extraordinary introductory terror, beautiful to the eye and sure to delight younger horror enthusiasts.(Early chapter book. 6-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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YOU HAVE STUMBLED your way into the unknown. The unexpected. You have arrived without a road map at the crossroads where strange and silly meet. And there's no turning back.   Be warned. Creepy things lie on the following pages. And creepiness has a habit of doing strange things to readers. For example, you may possibly find yourself peeing your pants without knowing whether it's from fright or hilarity or maybe just confusion.   If that's the kind of story you seek, the kind that makes you pee your pants for a variety of reasons, then you are in the right place. Feel free to turn the page. But proceed with caution.     TONSILS.   Yes, indeed. It is a strange word. And an even stranger thing. Or things, if we're going to be precise. For that is what they are. A pair of... things.   Two small, pink, pulpy things. Wads. Lumps. Glands , technically speaking. Two little, pink, fleshy glands that reside snugly in the back of your throat. They are likely there right now.   Watching. Waiting.   They've always seemed suspicious to me, these tonsils. After all, what are they up to, lurking back there in the dark? Why do they linger in the shadows?   It would seem they have a job to do. Their job? To battle germs and infections that decide to seek entry to your body through the throat.   They are warriors, these tonsils. Fighters. Survivors.   But even warriors are not without weakness.   For sometimes they, these strange tonsils of ours, turn red.   Sometimes they stop doing their job.   And sometimes, it would seem, these little lumps, these tiny, fleshy wads, these ever-present glands ...   Sometimes they simply have a mind of their own.     MEET CHARLIE MARMOT. Just your average, run-of-the-mill, large, furry rodent. Who wears clothes. And lives in a house. And goes to school. Normal, everyday animal stuff.   Autumn is in the air and brings with it many joys to young marmots like Charlie. Leaves crunching underfoot. Puddles to splash in. Crisp, windy days. The inevitable trick-or-treating that lurks just over the horizon.   This autumn is no exception. Except that it holds in its clutches something extra for Charlie Marmot. Charlie doesn't know it yet, but his tonsils... have an infection. An infection that, medically speaking, is quite easy to resolve. But on this brisk week in October, Charlie's tonsils are going to do more than infect his throat.   They are going to infect his life.   And swallow him down into the deep, dark tunnel of his very own...   CREEPY TALE. Excerpted from Troubling Tonsils! by Aaron Reynolds All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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