THE SHIVERS IN THE FRIDGE!
Illustrated by Paul Zelinsky
Format: Hardcover, 32pp.
ISBN: 0525469435
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; 1ST edition
Pub. Date: October  2006





 FROM BOOKSENSE
FROM AMAZON
  • A Junior Library Guild Selection
  • A KIRKUS 2006 Book of the Year
  • Chosen as 2006 Booklist Editors’ Choice
  • Also chosen as an ALA Booklist "Lasting Connection," as one of 2006 Best Books with ties to school curriculums
  • New York Public Library 100 Books for sharing, 2006

Reviews

*STARRED REVIEW--KIRKUS REVIEWS, October 1, 2006
What if a family of five kitchen magnets were marooned in the fridge with only their cardboard box for warmth? Manushkin’s sparkling mix of folkloric repetition, funny dialogue and—“PHOOMPH!!!”—perfectly chosen sound effects, cleverly withholds its punch line till the end. All day, the Shivers face predictable but rattling events: quaking rumbles, blazes of light, “monsters” that “reached out, reached out” to snatch away bits of the foodscape. One by one, each Shiver—by design or accident—is whisked off to an uncertain fate. (In a hilarious union of art and text, Mama cavorts in warm Emerald Lake—only to stick fast as the gelatin sets: “Emerald Lake, Jolly Whip—and MAMA!—were gone.”) The antic mixed media spreads hum: Compositions agreeably evoke Paul Galdone with fresh, original garnishes. Zelinsky runs with the authorial metaphor, depicting the fridge contents as a skewed, teeming village—where a milk carton’s top is a pitched roof, and broccoli’s a tree. From endpapers on, hidden visual clues hint at the Shivers’ magnetic personalities. Cool ingredients for read-aloud laughs.

*STARRED REVIEW--Publication: Booklist, Issue Date: October 15, 2006 – Ilene Cooper
Mother, father, grandmother, grandfather and one small boy are freezing cold. Although they vaguely remember another time when they were standing tall, now they must contend with darkness, earthquakes and monsters plucking things from their frigid home. It will be fun to see how long it takes preschoolers to figure out that the family is living in the refrigerator––and that they are magnets. Manushkin tells their story in colorful language and with a high humor. The family must travel through Egg Valley and beware of Buttery Cliff. Emerald Lake is swimmable until it hardens into a gelatin. There’s a wonderful repeat in the story as one by one, each of the family members decide they must find a warmer place to live, attaching themselves to places like "the scary jungle" (a bunch of celery). The story’s humor is matched by Zelinsky’s inventive artwork that picks up on the wit and slyness of the text. As the family moves through the world that is the fridge, hands come out of nowhere, dreams of happy families mingle with stalks of broccoli, and the boy can stand on a mountain of grapes. Drawn with a frisson that might make readers shiver, these are pictures meant to be looked at again and again. Those who do may figure out how the family found themselves out in the cold.

THE NEW YORK TIMES:
"Zelinsky’s illustrations are pitch perfect for this comically surreal scenario—a freezing family tries to figure out what has befallen it, with monstrous claws suddenly appearing and grabbing the neighbors, Cheesy Square and Jelly. 'It’s been c-c-cold ever since we got here—and dark,,' says Sonny, the boy. (Like the grouchy grandparents sharing a bed in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” the family of five lives all crammed together in a box.) Young readers should enjoy puzzling out pictures of towering milk cartons and celery jungles long after they’re clued in to the laugh-out-loud solution to the mystery."
 

SEE TWO ANIMATIONS OF THE SHIVERS on Paul Zelinsky's web site:
http://www.paulozelinsky.com/shivers-animation1a.html and http://www.paulozelinsky.com/shivers-animation2a.html

 


Me with Paul Zelinsky!