A Chocolate Moose for Dinner

The King Who Rained

by Fred Gwynne

A gorilla war? Car pools? Playing the piano by ear? It's no wonder a little girl is confused by some of the strange things she overhears her mommy and daddy saying. With his hilarious wordplay and zany illustrations, Fred Gwynne keeps children of all ages in stitches!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Humor, Language, Animals, School

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Fred Gwynne was a well-known actor in addition to being a renowned children's author. Best known as Herman Munster from the sitcom The Munsters, Gwynne's books such as The King Who Rained and A Chocolate Moose for Dinner employed clever homonym wordplay for lighthearted humor that have delighted children for generations. Altogether, Gwynne published nine books over a long career.

Reviews

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just recently learned that Fred Gwynne wrote picture books for children. I really wanted to read The King Who Rained but I’m unable to borrow a copy so I started with this book.

The idioms and homonyms are what make the book so humorous so it’s best enjoyed by readers who know how to read and spell and know the various meanings of words. If they’re pre-readers, the illustrations will definitely help with understanding, but I think independent readers will get the most out of this book.

I think I’d have laughed until I cried if I’d read this as a kid. I’d have found it hilarious, and I think I’d have given it 5 stars. I think it’s probably best appreciated by people still learning the intricacies of language and can get a kick out of being in the know. This is not a storybook. Each page is complete on its own. Mommy says or daddy says and then a humorous phrase, amusing because of the mistake in it.

Now, there’s something to be said about the illustrations: I loved them. They worked with the silly phrases so perfectly and are appealing to view. At this point, as an adult, I enjoyed them as much as I did the text. They’re really wonderful, and definitely contribute significantly in making this book as funny as it is.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorites! I stumbled upon this at the beginning of my teaching career. Some class in Colorado or someplace had read it and then drawn their own idioms. I adopted that project and have done it ever since.

Fred Gwynne, of course, played Herman Munster. Each page depicts a different idiom. Each idiom is accompanied by a picture that shows the literal meaning of the idiom. For instance, a chocolate moose is shown as the animal moose made of chocolate.

My students have great fun reading this each year. As time moves on, some of the idioms feel dated. A guerilla war, for instance, is something that my students don't quite understand.

I look forward to reading this each year. I tend to read it in November as it fits in with our investigation of figurative language.
****

22 November 2010
23 November 2011

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Fred Gwynne's books, so witty with great illustrations also by Gwynne.

[Charles Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This hilarious book is perfect for introducing students to idioms. The book follows a young girl as she attempts to decode common idioms her parents use. Each picture depicts her highly imaginative, literal depiction of a phrase; for example, one picture shows a bunch of cars swimming in and lounging around a pool with the words "Daddy says there should be more car pools." The only downside is that the book was written in 1976; therefore, some of the idioms are a bit outdated. The message, however, still rings true.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a hoot and it was written by Herman Munster. Bonus!

[Scott Ravede · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a kid you'd wonder why anyone would want to have a chocolate moose for dinner. Of course, if you're an adult you know that it's not a moose, but a mousse. But you still might wonder why anyone, but the most unhealthy person would want to have a chocolate mousse for dinner. A chocolate mousse for dessert, I could understand, but a chocolate mousse for dinner? That's too rich. And I don't mean money-wise. Speaking of money, this book reminds me of an incident when I was a little kid. My dad came home from work one evening, and I asked him why he had to go to work every day. He replied that he went to work to make money. So, for a long time after that, I thought he operated a machine at work that printed dollar bills.

The most active imaginations belong to kids and their minds have an amazing ability to confabulate explanations of anything they don't understand. This book is a great example of that.

[J. Boo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A small child - in my head canon, a relative of Amelia Bedelia - is confused by homonyms and figures of speech. Mother has a chocolate moose for dinner, father has a shoe tree. The confusion is humorously illustrated.

Like Amelia Bedelia, this was designed for children of an earlier era, and therefore some (many!) of them require explaining to the young and younger ("a mousse is a type of pudding"). However, the book was a *massive* hit with DD2 (7), DS2 (9) and even DS1 (14). The illustrations were excellently done, and played a large part in their enjoyment. They demanded I give it five stars, so here they are. And look! With the enjoyment they had came learning -- rather more than I expected. Thus, I fully concur with their rating.

Gwynne is best known as an actor (the father in the Munsters, the judge in My Cousin Vinny), but given the wild success of this, he also should be known as a writer.

[Kelly Wickham · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a play on words. It is meant for kids, but I read this with Jecel, and at 13, he didn't understand most of the scenarios and I had to explain to him the meaning behind them. For example, one page says, "Daddy says he hates the arms race." and the illustration is a field full of arms racing. Most children do not understand the other meaning of an "arms race" so much of this story is lost in translation and does not have meaning for children. Anyway, it is sort of amusing for adults, but not a great book for kids.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

In all fairness, this book has the humor sensibilities of the 1970s because it was written in the 1970s. However, this fact means that the staying power for this book is not strong. The art is funny, but the scenarios are not for children of this age. My 8yo was so confused by certain references such as "arms race" and "gorilla warfare" and even "shoe trees," but there were enough plays on words she understood that made her smirk, so all was not lost. I wish there was more of a story to it, though.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun to read three books by Fred Gwynne this morning all about taking the words in homonymns incorrectly. The books are all very much alike. They all make me smile. They're a great way to show how crazy the English language can be and how difficult it can be to understand. Some are funnier than others. I may have laughed at this one most.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so funny!! I love it. I read it to my class every year. They don't really get it, so I read it through first just to watch the looks of confusion on their faces. Occasionally, I'll get a look of recognition in the form of a raised eyebrow or wide eyes. Then, I read it again and explain things. They end up enjoying it, too, and then they understand idioms better.

[Elizabeth Gaskins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious & beautifully illustrated! As an adult who teaches kids, I chuckled several times reading this book. It has hilarious word play with imaginative illustrations! Perfect to read to older kids/preteens because it is humor based on common phrases we use everyday. I think they'll love it & the adult reading it will have a good time too!

[DaNae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, silly fun. I’m sure I’ve read this before, but I’m so happy I picked it up again for this challenge. The illustrations range from the delightful, Kiss and Make up to the slightly disturbing, arms race. A great one to crack out for idioms.

52 Book Club25, picture book: 1)     A pun in the title

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books that, once the final cover closes, continue to live in minds and conversations. My favorites are those featuring wordplay, as this one did--and how often we readers can family and friends to begin to think of homonyms and devise sentences using them.

[Lisa Mcbroom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fred Gwynne (yes of The Munsters Fame ) writes an amusing story of what a little girl overhears her parents saying such as the yummy chocolate mousse she literally imagines a chocolate moose for dinner!

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sought this out because as a child I was a huge fan of The Munsters, yet I never knew Herman wrote children’s books. This book is a delight and I look forward to finding more of his works.

Note: it isn’t a story with a plot-it’s a series of visual puns and it is hilarious.

[Ellie McGarvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to the Kindergartners at the school I work for. A lot of them weren't sure what was going on but they thought illustrations were funny. As an adult, I thought it was pretty funny. I would definitely read it again to a group of kids.

[Julia Chestnut · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this hilarious story. Although there was no moral or meaning to the story, the illustrations are funny of what the little girl thinks of when she hears things her parents say. It is an older book as well.

[Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t realize that this author was also a famous actor. I had a similar idea for a children’s book, and I like his take on this, it’s more relatable to a certain decade, and I think that I am still inspired to write my own story. Just ended a little abruptly but overall a fun read!

[Nichole Holbrooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very interesting to students to students and is a good way to show students how figurative language is used in books. This book is very interesting to students and will be a good literacy implement for my unit plan.

[Mrs. Ruigrok · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures in this book are dated but kids will still love the funny wordplay.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little girl pictures the things her parents talk about, such as a chocolate mousse, a guerilla war, the arms race, shoe trees and a man on the lam.

[Keri Keehn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun book that focuses on phrases we say that are out of context.

[Thomas Sauder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really isn't a children's book as all of the humor in it is over their heads, however, for some reason my 3 year old grandson likes it read to him.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny introduction to idioms for elementary age kids.

[Edmund Kubiak · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a clever book, taking a child's point of view on many idiomatic phrases.

[Nichole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I LOVED The King Who Rained when I was a kid. Didn't know about this book. I didn't understand all of the idioms when I was a kid at all, but I did love the illustrations. This one is fun, too.

[Helen-Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very funny matching of English language idioms with appropriate illustrations: a large , melting chocolate moose sitting at the dinner table with our narrator.

[Gj Berg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun exploring the world of homonyms and puns, great illustrations

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming wordplay.