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Stays Crunchy in Milk
They were Wereberry the strawberry werewolf, Choco-Ra the chocolate mummy, The Creature From the Fruit Lagoon (his friends call him "T.C."), and Cherrygeist the... well she was a ghost. At least, until she wasn't. One day, she wasn't there at all. And then they were three. Three friends who have sworn to search for her to the ends of the world and beyond - to find and save her. Through familiar lands to places startling and unknown - across looming castles, endless battlefields and simple brick roads - these three friends will hunt and search and scour every inch. Along the way they'll have to rely on a whole lot of luck and a little bit of charm, but mostly each other. A fairy tale for the super-sugar generation, Stays Crunchy in Milk is a road novel packed with 100% of your recommended daily allowance of essential action and adventure. And it's a delicious part of a nutritious breakfast.
- GenresFantasy
382 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2009
28 people want to read
About the author
Adam P. Knave
42 books25 followersAdam P. Knave is an Eisner and Harvey award winning editor and writer who writes prose fiction (This Starry Deep, Stays Crunchy in Milk, Strange Angel), comics (The Once and Future Queen, Amelia Cole, Artful Daggers, stories in Titmouse Vol 2, Outlaw Territory Vol 3, and many more), as well as humor essay collections (NYCWTF, I Slept With Your Imaginary Friend) and used to write columns for sites such as thefoonote, TwoHeadedCat, Comics101, PopCultureShock, Three If By Space, and MamaPop. He worked as one of the editors of Image’s Popgun anthology, also editing many other works along the way.
Currently in Portland, OR after spending 38 years in New York City, Adam knows he should insert a joke or something attempting to be witty here at the end but is too tired to care.
Currently in Portland, OR after spending 38 years in New York City, Adam knows he should insert a joke or something attempting to be witty here at the end but is too tired to care.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 3, 2010
Fun and a little dark, Stays Crunchy in Milk is the story of three creatures, who could have been pulled from breakfast cereal land, exploring different worlds in search of their missing friend. Each of the worlds should be familiar to anyone who was a first world television-watching child of the 1980s. Half the fun of the book is trying to figure out what imaginary place they're visiting based on the description of the characters around them. But as I said, there is a darkness, as the people our heroes come across are less than perfect, the main characters discover things about themselves they didn't necessarily want to know, the people they meet throw them in prison or recruit them for battle. The threat of death and the menace of the unknown give a new dimension of threat to worlds that are familiar and safe only when you don't have to navigate through them; not since 1988 has a side scroller felt so dangerous. There's even a bit of existential awareness toward the end that, I feel, could have been explored more fully. Personally, I had trouble getting into the book until about 100 pages in, and the ending was a little weak, but overall, it was a fun read that left me thinking long after the sugar buzz ebbed away.
September 28, 2009
If you are a child of a certain decade, you're going to recognize - and be moved to hysterical laughter by - large chunks of this book (cleverly subverted to avoid legal troubles from cereal companies, toy manufacturers, Saturday morning cartoon makers, and pretty much anybody who ever made anything for any child in the Western world between 1975 and 1990). But underneath the relentless monsoon of thinly veiled pop-culture references is a classic hero-quest with a lot of heart.
I would have tracked down and read this book even if it hadn't been written by a friend.
I would have tracked down and read this book even if it hadn't been written by a friend.
August 9, 2010
Stays Crunchy in Milk is a classic quest tale, based on pop culture icons of the 1980s.
Choco-Ra, the chocolate Mummy, Wereberry, the strawberry werewolf, and T.C., The Creature from the Fruit Lagoon must find their friend Cherrygeist, the ghost, who is missing. They have sworn to search to the ends of the world and beyond and to find her.
On their travels, through strange lands - each land separated by a milky, white nothingness - they meet the Buffaloves, the Scuttles - little yellow men, reminiscent of Smurfs - and the Fuzzticuffs - reminiscent of Care Bears (or Care Bear Friends) and others who either help, or hinder them on their journey. They fight side-by-side with armies which never suffer a casualty and elsewhere learn to fly transforming airships.
The premise of the book is clever and starts with such promise, but, for me, dwindles away into boredom. Choco-Ra sets that tone in the first few pages: "He also realized that, today at least, he just didn’t damn well care what he did."
This boredom is reinforced by long descriptive passages, rich in detail, but often too much to read through. Some passages are so wordy, I found it difficult to know what is most important.
Compounding this, the author jumps from point-of-view to point-of-view of each of the three main characters from one paragraph to the next, giving the reader a shallow impression of each character. This brief glimpse of each character’s thoughts and opinions makes it difficult for the reader to sympathize with their plight.
By far, the most troublesome aspect of the story is the lack of conflict, especially among the friends.
At one point, Choco-Ra rallies the Scuttles against a Princess and storms her castle, culminating in an explosion which thrusts the three friends out of one world and into another. Yet:
"Wereberry forgave Choco-Ra quickly. Nothing had been done that he wouldn’t have done himself...that didn’t make Choco-Ra bad, it just made him Choco-Ra."
There is a war scene, where the friends team up with an army unit, and their orders are carried out exactly as planned, without mishap. And they hear news that the missions of all the platoons of the army were successful.
Choco-Ra thinks, "No one seems to care that this didn’t seem to be the one final blow...that everyone had been led to believe it would be when they set out. He also noticed that no one seemed to care. Shrugging, he dropped the matter without even bothering to bring it up..."
I found myself just as uncaring about what happened as the characters in the book.
In another scene, Choco-Ra smuggles a creature, Al, out of one world and into the next, disturbing the group dynamic.
T.C. and Were are mad about this addition to their group, and there’s a brief discussion, but T.C. thinks, "...he knew exactly what the issue was. He knew the sound of loneliness very well and caught it quickly in others. He looked at Al and wondered about the friendship that had built so rapidly between the two of them. He found he didn’t care why they had bonded so close and so fast; he only knew that he was glad for it."
"Well, what’s done is done, Were’," T.C. said, and that was the end of the matter.
I wanted more tension, more angst, from Wereberry and T.C. Here was a betrayal of friendship, and they accepted it so quickly. Too quickly, in my opinion.
With the lack of tension and the dispassionate nature of the characters, I found my interest waning early in the book. I pushed through to the middle, hoping for some drama among the friends or that some action might occur that I could care about, but nothing satisfied. I had to stop myself from flipping to the end to see if they found Cherrygeist.
Since the book may appeal to some who remember 80s pop culture with fondness, I won’t spoil the ending here. For me, it was as unsatisfying as the rest of the book.
At times, I found myself trying to determine who and what the Stays Crunchy characters were supposed to be and not paying attention to the story. A paraody of actual pop-culture icons, rather than a yarn about new characters who mimic the past, may have made this a better read.
Choco-Ra, the chocolate Mummy, Wereberry, the strawberry werewolf, and T.C., The Creature from the Fruit Lagoon must find their friend Cherrygeist, the ghost, who is missing. They have sworn to search to the ends of the world and beyond and to find her.
On their travels, through strange lands - each land separated by a milky, white nothingness - they meet the Buffaloves, the Scuttles - little yellow men, reminiscent of Smurfs - and the Fuzzticuffs - reminiscent of Care Bears (or Care Bear Friends) and others who either help, or hinder them on their journey. They fight side-by-side with armies which never suffer a casualty and elsewhere learn to fly transforming airships.
The premise of the book is clever and starts with such promise, but, for me, dwindles away into boredom. Choco-Ra sets that tone in the first few pages: "He also realized that, today at least, he just didn’t damn well care what he did."
This boredom is reinforced by long descriptive passages, rich in detail, but often too much to read through. Some passages are so wordy, I found it difficult to know what is most important.
Compounding this, the author jumps from point-of-view to point-of-view of each of the three main characters from one paragraph to the next, giving the reader a shallow impression of each character. This brief glimpse of each character’s thoughts and opinions makes it difficult for the reader to sympathize with their plight.
By far, the most troublesome aspect of the story is the lack of conflict, especially among the friends.
At one point, Choco-Ra rallies the Scuttles against a Princess and storms her castle, culminating in an explosion which thrusts the three friends out of one world and into another. Yet:
"Wereberry forgave Choco-Ra quickly. Nothing had been done that he wouldn’t have done himself...that didn’t make Choco-Ra bad, it just made him Choco-Ra."
There is a war scene, where the friends team up with an army unit, and their orders are carried out exactly as planned, without mishap. And they hear news that the missions of all the platoons of the army were successful.
Choco-Ra thinks, "No one seems to care that this didn’t seem to be the one final blow...that everyone had been led to believe it would be when they set out. He also noticed that no one seemed to care. Shrugging, he dropped the matter without even bothering to bring it up..."
I found myself just as uncaring about what happened as the characters in the book.
In another scene, Choco-Ra smuggles a creature, Al, out of one world and into the next, disturbing the group dynamic.
T.C. and Were are mad about this addition to their group, and there’s a brief discussion, but T.C. thinks, "...he knew exactly what the issue was. He knew the sound of loneliness very well and caught it quickly in others. He looked at Al and wondered about the friendship that had built so rapidly between the two of them. He found he didn’t care why they had bonded so close and so fast; he only knew that he was glad for it."
"Well, what’s done is done, Were’," T.C. said, and that was the end of the matter.
I wanted more tension, more angst, from Wereberry and T.C. Here was a betrayal of friendship, and they accepted it so quickly. Too quickly, in my opinion.
With the lack of tension and the dispassionate nature of the characters, I found my interest waning early in the book. I pushed through to the middle, hoping for some drama among the friends or that some action might occur that I could care about, but nothing satisfied. I had to stop myself from flipping to the end to see if they found Cherrygeist.
Since the book may appeal to some who remember 80s pop culture with fondness, I won’t spoil the ending here. For me, it was as unsatisfying as the rest of the book.
At times, I found myself trying to determine who and what the Stays Crunchy characters were supposed to be and not paying attention to the story. A paraody of actual pop-culture icons, rather than a yarn about new characters who mimic the past, may have made this a better read.
July 14, 2013
Three cereal mascots travel from world to world in search of the fourth member of their team who has suddenly disappeared. Littered with thinly veiled references to '80s toys and cartoons (Smurfs, GI Joe, My little pony, Super Mario and so on), this book could have been much better than the sum of its parts, but in the end becomes a little less because of the awkward pacing in references (as someone else pointed out, all the 'girly' toys get packed in just one chapter, while toy soldiers and giant robots get each one all for themselves) and the fact that everyone beyond our three main characters ends up as little more than a sketch or a caricature, even more so because they mainly exist as parody of some other IP that couldn't be referenced by name because of copyright.
The ending too is somewhat of a disappointment, a kind of unresolved un-finale that is becoming all too common recently.
On the other hand, the three main characters are actually original and likeable even through their clear 'cereal mascot' origin,, and you get to care about them in the end. I just wish the rest of the world(s) had been just a little more fleshed out.
The ending too is somewhat of a disappointment, a kind of unresolved un-finale that is becoming all too common recently.
On the other hand, the three main characters are actually original and likeable even through their clear 'cereal mascot' origin,, and you get to care about them in the end. I just wish the rest of the world(s) had been just a little more fleshed out.
June 13, 2016
A bunch of cereal mascots realize one of them is missing. They go on a journey to find her and find themselves along the way. It’s a fun ride for adults but it would work well as a bedtime story. The writing feels simplistic at times but the lessons learned are universal. The characters discover things about themselves they didn’t know were there and they about friendship, discovery, and loss.
I enjoyed all the pop culture from video games to cartoons to the advertisements. My only complaint was that all of ‘girl’ stuff was lumped into one world and one part of the story. The Power Rangers and G.I. Joe spoof each got their own part of the story but the Barbie, Care Bears, Winnie the Pooh, My Little Pony, Rainbow Bright, and Smurfs spoofs all were lumped together. It worked well for the character development but it felt like the author was playing favorites.
MAJOR SPOILER ALERT! I’m sad that they didn’t find Cherrygeist and that she wasn’t to be found. It’s disappointing but that’s how life goes sometimes. I like that the story ended on a note
I enjoyed all the pop culture from video games to cartoons to the advertisements. My only complaint was that all of ‘girl’ stuff was lumped into one world and one part of the story. The Power Rangers and G.I. Joe spoof each got their own part of the story but the Barbie, Care Bears, Winnie the Pooh, My Little Pony, Rainbow Bright, and Smurfs spoofs all were lumped together. It worked well for the character development but it felt like the author was playing favorites.
MAJOR SPOILER ALERT! I’m sad that they didn’t find Cherrygeist and that she wasn’t to be found. It’s disappointing but that’s how life goes sometimes. I like that the story ended on a note
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2013
Stays Crunchy in Milk is a classic quest tale, based on pop culture icons of the 1980s.
Choco-Ra, the chocolate Mummy, Wereberry, the strawberry werewolf, and T.C., The Creature from the Fruit Lagoon must find their friend Cherrygeist, the ghost, who is missing. They have sworn to search to the ends of the world and beyond and to find her.
On their travels, through strange lands - each land separated by a milky, white nothingness - they meet the Buffaloves, the Scuttles - little yellow men, reminiscent of Smurfs - and the Fuzzticuffs - reminiscent of Care Bears (or Care Bear Friends) and others who either help, or hinder them on their journey. They fight side-by-side with armies which never suffer a casualty and elsewhere learn to fly transforming airships
Stays Crunchy in Milk review at SFReader.com
Choco-Ra, the chocolate Mummy, Wereberry, the strawberry werewolf, and T.C., The Creature from the Fruit Lagoon must find their friend Cherrygeist, the ghost, who is missing. They have sworn to search to the ends of the world and beyond and to find her.
On their travels, through strange lands - each land separated by a milky, white nothingness - they meet the Buffaloves, the Scuttles - little yellow men, reminiscent of Smurfs - and the Fuzzticuffs - reminiscent of Care Bears (or Care Bear Friends) and others who either help, or hinder them on their journey. They fight side-by-side with armies which never suffer a casualty and elsewhere learn to fly transforming airships
Stays Crunchy in Milk review at SFReader.com
November 24, 2009
Clever and charming, Stays Crunchy In Milk is an adventure story that starts off appealing to the kid in you and ends up revealing itself as a well rounded delight. On the surface there are the entertaining pop culture references that wrap you in a warm blanket of childhood nostalgia. At its depths, Stays Crunchy takes its three heroes (who should remind you of several popular cereals that make an appearance around a certain holiday involving dress-up and candy) on a journey that is as much existential as it is physical. It becomes more than a game of catch that cartoon reference, it's a story about friendship, perception of self, and the subjective nature of reality. Stays Crunchy is a fun and tasty tale that a reader can enjoy on many levels.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews