Brain Rot

Whales on Stilts

by M.T. Anderson

Summary

In this bizarre spoof on every comic book adventure and cheesy science fiction story imaginable, young Lily visits her dad’s workplace on career day and discovers that his boss is a half-whale, half-human, and is planning to take over the world with an army of whales on stilts. While her dad refuses to see the strange goings-on he is taking part in daily, Lily knows something bad will happen, and summons the help of her two best friends (one of whom frequently battles vampires, zombies, and other frightening creatures, and the other, a brilliant inventor) to help her stop the whale invasion.

Worth staying up past bedtime?

This is a hard review for me to write. I have two differing viewpoints on this book, and have decided to share them both:

1. If I put myself in the mindset of a middle school student, somewhere around 10 or 11 years of age, I would find this book strangely hilarious. Everything about it - from the insane plot to the “advertisements” that appear at random in the story - is bizarre. At every turn, Whales on Stilts pokes fun at comic book adventures and bad science fiction stories, and I think that any young reader who has a decent sense of humor will appreciate the spoof.

2. Now, going back to my personal preferences and filters ... I could almost feel my brain cells dying as I read this book. It was terrible. I understand that it was supposed to be a spoof, but it was so utterly, over-the-top cheesy, that I found it annoying and could not wait to be finished with it. What bothered me the most was the author’s inconsistent style. The sentences are choppy. The story begins in third-person narrative, but then about one-third of the way in, Anderson begins referring to himself and telling his own stories as asides. Again, I realize this was done for comic effect, but I found it endlessly irritating.

My final thought is this: if you love comic books and spoofs and are between the ages of 10 and 12-years-old, read this book. If you’re older than 13, save yourself the frustration and read a decent fantasy/science-fiction book such as The Graveyard Book or The Phantom Tollbooth.

Reviews

"Goosebumps fans and readers who "get" Lemony Snicket's brand of humor will be rolling in the aisles." - star from Booklist

"Armed with an array of adjectives, non-sequiturs, bizarre asides, irrelevant footnotes and running gags, Anderson sends up decades of children's book series, and creates a hysterical tale of his own. . . . Highly wacky." - starred review in Publishers Weekly, May 16, 2005

In the library

Ask students to come up with a weird plot to take over the world. Provide paper, pencils and crayons and encourage them to make the “cover” of the book that would detail their story.

SLIS 5420

Module 8

Week of Oct. 18-24