The Incredible Book Eating Boy

The Incredible Book-Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers
Illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
2007

     Henry loves books. So much so that he eats them.  And he can't stop because the more he eats them the smarter he gets.  He hopes to become the smartest person on Earth.  Suddenly things take a turn for the worse, he's eating too many books and too quickly. Henry starts getting sick to his stomach, and everything he's learned starts getting all mixed up to the point where he can't even speak two words straight.  Sad that he must stop eating books, everything changes when he opens a book up and actually begins to read it. "And it was SO good." Henry seems cured of his strange book eating addiction, but the fact that the last pages of the book are chewed up, lets us believe he might still take a nibble here and there.
     The Incredible Book-Eating Boy is a fun and quirky book.  The illustrations are drawn over pages of old books and they provide a rich background to entertain the readers with extra details not seen at first glance.  It is also a great read aloud that captivates listeners with its clever story line.  This is just the first of many more Oliver Jeffers' books I will be reading.  Great find.