Big Fun!

Adventure of Meno, Elf of Space #1

by Tony DiTerlizzi, Angela DiTerlizzi

GREETINGS EARTHLINGS!

I AM MENO. ELF OF SPACE, HERE TO VISIT HUMAN RACE!

Tony DiTerlizzi is the #1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of the Spiderwick Chronicles, Kenny & the Dragon , and the 2003 Caldecott Honor Book The Spider and the Fly . He is also a #1 husband and father. Here he teams with wife and partner in publishing, Angela, to inject the standard sweetness of books for tots with a family-friendly dose of BIG FUN!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

48 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

#1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator, Tony DiTerlizzi, has been creating children’s books for twenty years. From fanciful picture books like The Broken Ornament and The Spider & The Fly (a Caldecott Honor book), to chapter books like Kenny and The Dragon and The Search for WondLa, DiTerlizzi imbues his stories with rich imagination. With Holly Black, he created the middle-grade series, The Spiderwick Chronicles, which has sold over 20 million copies, been adapted into a feature film, and translated in over thirty countries. He teamed up with Lucasfilm to retell the original Star Wars trilogy as a picture book and his collaboration with celebrated author Mo Willems created the bestseller The Story of Diva & Flea. The Norman Rockwell museum’s retrospective, “Never Abandon Imagination”, featured artwork from the beginning of DiTerlizzi’s career as a contributing artist for Dungeons & Dragons and broke attendance records. He has been featured in Time magazine, USA Today, CNN, PBS, NPR the BBC and The Today Show.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meno the Space Elf! Now all I have to know is if there is a space Santa!

[Alea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will admit right off the bat that I was interested in the Meno series because of the illustration. It's beyond cute and I loved the retro feel to it, it stuck with me since I first laid eyes on the cover. The cover even brags that it is "Presented in vibrant Meno-Color!" and Meno is an "elf of space" really this cannot go wrong in my book.

What I wasn't expecting was a rather hilariously written story, while it has very few words or pages it sure is memorable. Though I don't think it would do much for children learning to read, it is bright and colorful and has a humor that I think kids and adults alike can enjoy. When we are introduced to Yamagoo, the other character in this first book in the Meno series I definitely laughed. Yamagoo could have been anyone or anything and he was the perfect companion for the silly Meno. The one thing I had hoped for was more, more illustrations, more pages, and more adventures. Luckily this is only the beginning of Meno's adventures!

Overall Big Fun! (Adventure of Meno), it was humorous, excellently drawn, and the start to a great children's book series! I will definitely be watching for the next several books in the series!

[Mrs. Nelson's · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite read-aloud books, because you can make up crazy voices. Plus, as an adult it offers more amusement than many preschool reads. There are several in the series including one that has a reference to Betty White.

--Review by Andrea

[Marisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird. I can't seem to find any more words than that at the moment...

[Kelli Gleiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

very funny, pretty weird. this would be a good one for your quirky friends young and old.

[jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious - I laughed out loud.

[Danielle Delahunty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what your English teacher said would happen (if you are over 30). A book published in which the character speaks in broken English. The fear is that somewhere along the line, they gave in, those English teachers, and they started to accept that written expression has no rules in the publishing industry.

That did not happen, of course, this is just a testimony of how clever authors know hoe to impress language learners by not being as polished as adult characters might be, and it really worked for my 6.

Meno is a character who speaks broken, nay, "new" English and has a magical rainbow fairy that grants wishes, which of course, backfire. They are my favorite new Children's series since Frog and Toad. Myself, being an English teacher over 30. What can I say, I think the creativity that people use to learn a second language breeds the most fun ways of using words, and so must DiTerlizzi, who may or may not agree that it IS broken English.

Maybe I should be fired for supporting this. But if I was, I'd read more of Tony DiTerlizzi's works, while I looked for another type of job.

[Josh Hanagarne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The four Meno books are my five-year-old son's new favorites. These are very hard describe.

There's a little boy named Meno, with an octopus friend named Yamagoo, and a fish friend named Zanzibar. The book is written in an odd, inverted Pidgin English--or think about a bad but funny sentence as run through Google translate.

I kind of get a kick out of these because they're just so odd, but my son adores them.

[Melly Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally ridiculous, sometimes potty humor, and makes fun of people who speak English like this: "...now is time for a big fun." This features Meno, who is an elf of space here to visit the human race, hence the linguistic difficulties. This book is by the author of Spiderwick Chronicles.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The little boy is so cute, and I like how he talks in toddler talk. He looks in silly places for his friend then they have a "big fun," which I won't spoil for you. Nice "glossary" in the back. I also liked how on the copyright page it says the illustrations were "rendered with magic."

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the 4-year old in all of us. Potty humor at it's best.

[Stef · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd like to have my sunshine snack now please!

[Savannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly I only gave this book the rating I did because it was written by an awesome author.

[Kaethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable. Even though we've aged out of this group, I love the space-age feel to the art. Hmm. Somebody just had a baby....

[Anatoly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely Big Fun!

[Panda Incognito · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is completely inane and pointless, and the wording is frequently weird as well. This isn't standard English or different enough to be an imaginary alien dialect.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very bizarre book. Meno is an "elf of space" with a jellyfish pet/friend and they have fun by farting and making potty jokes. Hmmmm... not my cup of tea, but our girls like it a lot and they thought it was hilarious. The narrative has very awkward and incorrect English phrases, but it is easy to read and I explained that as a space elf, he's still learning. Very simple, colorful and funny, in a bizarre way.

[Nielson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was honestly the weirdest book to me. The wording was very awkward and so was the story. Meno, a space elf, and his friend Yamagoo have a snack together and then "make big fun" by passing gas. I honestly didn't get this book. The one bright spot were the bright and retro illustrations. I would give this negative stars if I could.

[JulieAnn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is SO weird. All of the Meno books are very strange. They're written in some kind of engrish style. It majorly bugs me that the sentence structure and grammar in these books is so messed up, but my kid loves them. As long as she's still too little to know the difference I'll let her read them.

[Cara · Rating 1 out of 5]

So lame!

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Both the 3 and the 6 year old like this. But I still don't get it. I mean, sure poots are funny. But only about two stars funny.

[Tina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Weird.

[Amy]

I am unsure why this book was ever published.

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Delightful illustrations, but this text provides several challenges for early readers (tricky words with little picture support and non -standard English that could be confusing for early readers).

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the illustration style but dislike the writing so much that I only read one of the three aloud that my daughter picked from the library.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read this first adventure to start off with, but it doesn't diminish the charm in any way. Delightfully entertaining.