Llama Destroys the World

Starred review from March 4, 2019
Married co-creators Stutzman and Fox open this outrageous story of planetary annihilation with a prediction: “On Friday, Llama will destroy the world.” The seriously silly tale then details a single week’s events, beginning on Monday with Llama’s consumption of “more cake than any llama should ever eat.” His indulgence is merely the “first mistake” in what turns out to be a domino effect of cascading errors: on Tuesday his dancing pants don’t fit, but he squeezes into them anyway (“second mistake”), resulting in a “thunderous” rip that creates a black hole; on Wednesday and Thursday, he fails to warn of the world’s “imminent doom”; and on Friday, as predicted, everything ends. With clean lines, uncluttered digital illustrations focus attention on the ungulate’s day-to-day doings alongside incoming universal demise. Several pages of cyclonic chaos herald doomsday’s arrival, a whirlwind of pizza, plants, and planets. It seems that all is lost, but then Saturday rolls around, and the world is just as it was—on the other side of the black hole. By Sunday, Llama, with innocent saucerlike eyes, has moved on to contemplating “more pie than any llama should ever eat.” Dessert has never seemed so epic. Ages 4–8.

March 15, 2019
An astronomically tall tale in which a llama's inability to control his appetite inadvertently creates a black hole. Stutzman and Fox's debut collaboration takes on the concept popularized by Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri's Dragons Love Tacos (2012), in which creatures' dining preferences wreak havoc upon the world as we know it. It happens, more specifically, after Llama has eaten a gigantic pile of cakes, squeezed into too-small dancing pants, and then ripped his pants while dancing. The understated narration is passively critical of Llama's choices, detailing the moments ("mistakes") in which he could have made different choices in the past tense. The book's exploration of consequences is muddled by the fact that readers are positioned alongside the narrative voice, which, in expressing disapproval of Llama's choices, sounds somewhat fatphobic: According to the text, overeating is an "honest mistake" that leads to "the ultimate doom of everything." However, Fox's digital illustrations successfully utilize color and shape to simultaneously heighten the hilarity and the drama; Llama's gigantic eyes and stubby legs belie the gravity (or lack thereof) of the world's impending doom. The book itself is well-designed. Beneath the appropriately urgent-looking fluorescent orange dust jacket, emblazoned with the title in capital letters, Llama appears wearing intact pants in a spotlight underneath a disco ball, and the front and back endpapers contain clues about the fate of the world.Will make Rubin and Salmieri's fans split their own pants. (Picture book. 3-8)

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June 1, 2019

PreS-Gr 2-On Monday, goofy, quirky Llama discovers a pile of cake, which he promptly consumes. The next day, being full of cake, he struggles to put on his dancing pants. Eventually, he wiggles into the pants, but once he starts dancing the pants rip, causing a chain reaction of mistakes that the narrator informs readers will cause the end of the world by Friday. Playful and colorful, this quasi-doom-filled story is reminiscent of the humor of Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin or Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea. The bold illustrations are a bit chaotic at times, but fitting to the story. Llama has wacky eyes and cannot say more than "I am Llama" and "dat" adding to his dopey charm. Adults will enjoy this read just as much as kids, being able to recognize the reference to "The Cha-Cha Slide" and nods to the scientific method. Full of rich vocabulary and alliteration, there is plenty of opportunity for kids to learn a thing or two from this lovable llama. Further, there is a positive message that even at seemingly the worst of times, such as the universe being sucked into a black hole, things usually work out on the other side. VERDICT A first joint effort from husband and wife team, this story will have readers chuckling again and again and coming back for more, just like Llama.-Kaitlin Malixi, Kensington Health Sciences Academy, Philadelphia

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2019
Grades K-2 As if the personal consequences of overeating weren't scary enough, here comes a story where it brings about the apocalypse. On Monday, Llama finds?and of course eats?a mountainous pile of cake. On Tuesday, he puts on his dancing pants and rips such a thunderous tear in the butt that a new black hole comes into existence. On Wednesday, he makes a bologna sandwich rather than warning Earth of imminent doom. By Friday, said doom has arrived, as Llama, a large number of turtles in evening dress, and the entire planet are sucked into the black hole. The bright, simply drawn cartoon illustrations feature a googly-eyed llama whose entire vocabulary consists of I am Llama! (shades of Groot) and Dat, plus large amounts of yummy-looking desserts. As it turns out, on the other side of the black hole lies a world that looks very much like this one except for . . . that HUGE pile of pie. Has Llama learned his lesson? Stutzman and Fox leave young readers to supply their own ending.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2019
On Monday, Llama eats cake. On Tuesday, he splits his dancing pants ("He was still full of cake"), which makes a sound that causes a black hole in the universe to tear open. By Friday the hole has swallowed everything...or has it? Riotous cartoonish art and the dopey-looking llama's lack of self-control are to thank for this absurdist gut buster.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)