Review - Skunks for Breakfast

Skunks for Breakfast
by Lesley Choyce
illustrated by Brenda Jones
Date: 2006
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Everyone knows there are no skunks in Nova Scotia...right? Well, that's what Pamela thinks, until she wakes up one morning to a terrible smell.

Now Pamela stinks, her father stinks, her sister stinks, and her mother stinks. Soon her life stinks—her friends at school won't come near her! And no matter how many skunks her father catches underneath the house, there always seems to be another.

Join Pamela and her family as they confront the odorous onslaught—and watch Pamela slowly start to like the unexpectedly cute creatures.

(synopsis from NetGalley; see it on Goodreads)

This amusing story reads like an illustrated anecdote (and it largely is). One morning, Pamela wakes up to a horrible smell. Despite the fact that there aren't supposed to be skunks in Nova Scotia, it seems that there's one under her house. The family becomes social pariahs because they stink, and they decide that something needs to be done. So they trap and release the skunk. Except... there's still something under the house. So they trap the mate. And then the baby. And then another baby... No skunks in Nova Scotia? Somebody forgot to tell these musteline visitors!

The story is amusing and fairly well written, and the illustrations are cute. I think my only complaint with this book is that there's no note about the actual events that inspired it. It's "based on a true story", but we don't get to hear the circumstances of this story... which is a little disappointing.

Overall, though, this is a funny book about an unfortunate family and their run-ins with some very smelly creatures.

Thank you to NetGalley and Nimbus Publishing for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 4 out of 5