The truth about the couch by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Liniers

 Humor is very subjective, especially when factoring in the gap between children and adults. It's hard to figure out what kids will find funny, especially at different ages and I really couldn't make up my mind about this book.

The book is told in a blended comic style, narrated by a smooth-talking fox with sharp teeth, purple jacket, and green-spotted yellow bowtie. The fox's foil is a possum in a business suit, armed with a tape gun that blacks out the fox's "visual aids". The fox, you see, is here to tell us, the readers, the TRUTH about couches. The two bicker back and forth until, just as the fox warned, the FURNITURE POLICE arrive, a band of hyenas riding dinosaurs with barbed wire lassos! That just can't be true... can it?

Rubin often teams up with illustrators with distinctive, quirky styles and readers familiar with Liniers from their comic strip or work with Toon books will recognize their style of muted colors although this book features animals, so their long-nosed, round-headed humans are not shown.

I would normally find this kind of twisting-reality humor very funny, although you never know if kids will "get" it or not, but I think after so many years of misinformation and damaging conspiracy theories as an adult it's really hard to see the humor in this and I didn't care for either of the characters, from the quick-talking fox with clickbait style of talking to the fussy possum trying to censor the fox and prove them wrong without any backup sources. I'm also, to be honest, not a fan of Liniers' art style.

However, what I feel about it isn't really the point. I tried this one several classes of kids, mostly in the 1st grade age range, and they had interesting reactions. Some thought it was hilarious, some were just confused by it. I also tried it on some colleagues and their reactions varied as well. However, when I read it aloud to older groups of kids, they pretty much all thought it was hilarious, except the kids on the spectrum who mostly kept yelling or muttering "but that's not TRUE."

Also, for those looking at the name recognition of the creators, I have to point out that picture book authors very rarely have name recognition, even from adults, outside of librarians especially if they are not an author/illustrator. In my experience, both kids and teachers ask for and recognize specific series or art styles, so they're not going to look at this and say "oh the author who did Dragons Love Tacos!" in the same way that they'd put Mother Bruce and Penelope Rex together.

Verdict: So! What is the verdict here? If you have an audience, especially of older elementary kids, for this kind of quirky humor this book will be popular. If your audience tends to prefer more straight-forward stories and leans younger, this is only an additional purchase for your library.

ISBN: 9780593619131 - listed as reinforced binding, $15.99 on B&T

Published April 2024 by Putnam Pub Group; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library