Branching into Chapters: How to promenade with a python (and not get eaten) by Rachel Poliquin, illustrated by Kathryn Durst

 It's hard to classify this book. It's illustrated, but not, strictly speaking, a graphic novel. It's both fiction and nonfiction, with a narrative interspersed with facts. It's formatted like an early reader, but it's too challenging for that level of reading. It's too long for a picture book and too short for a chapter book. In short, I have decided it is an illustrated, intermediate chapter book and, when I purchase it will put it in fiction with a graphic novel sticker. Because no matter where you put it, it's funny!

Celeste, a Madagascar hissing cockroach, is here to tell YOU, the reader, how to survive. And not just survive, but survive in a classy, stylish way, especially with those predators that try to lure you into tea on the terrace or a moonlight promenade!

So, you (shown as a pudgy, brown-skinned boy), have been asked for a promenade with a python. Now it's true that they have a bad reputation and are probably trying to eat you, but who can turn down a fancy promenade? With Celeste's help, you'll be zipping around in style with your python in no time, hopefully not in its belly. Maybe. Of course, should your predator friend try to eat you, Celeste will prepare you for that too, with a full complement of facts, stats, and information about the habits and behavior of this stylish python.

Packed with interesting information, hilarious jokes, plenty of cartoons, and a brisk narrative style, this unique combination of genres is sure to please fans of Elise Gravel's Disgusting Creatures series and Mike Lowery's Everything Awesome collections.

Verdict: If you can figure out the right place for it, I'm sure it will appeal to a wide range of kids and entertain - and inform - them.

ISBN: 9780735266582; Published February 2021 by Tundra; Borrowed from another library in my consortium; Purchased for the library