Smell My Foot! (Chick and Brain Series #1)

by Cece Bell, Cece Bell (Illustrator)

Overview

From Newbery Honor winner Cece Bell comes an offbeat, pitch-perfect storybook for beginning readers that will have them in fits of giggles.

“Maybe your foot smells good.
Maybe your foot smells great.
But I will not smell your foot until you say PLEASE.”

Meet Chick and Brain. And their friend Spot. Chick likes to follow the rules. Brain might not be as smart as he looks. And Spot just wants to eat lunch. In a graphic reader loaded with verbal and visual humor, Cece Bell offers a comical primer on good manners gone awry. Simple, silly, and perfectly suited for its audience, this tale of Chick and Brain’s constant misunderstandings and miscommunications proves once again that Cece Bell is a master at meeting kids where they are.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536216905
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	03/10/2020
Series:	Chick and Brain Series , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	GN250L (what's this?)
File size:	23 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Cece Bell is the author-illustrator of many books for young readers, including the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover and the Newbery Honor Book El Deafo. She is also the creator of the Sock Monkey picture books and Chuck and Woodchuck. Cece Bell lives in Virginia with her family.

Cece Bell is a lifelong resident of Virginia (except for those three years she disappeared in Ohio). She lives in an old white church and works in a new red barn right next door. She is married to author-illustrator Tom Angleberger.

She works in a variety of media, both digital and old-school. Somehow, all her books end up being about friendship. All her books end up being kind of nutty, too.

Cece Bell’s books include the Sock Monkey picture books as well as the 2013 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover.

As a kid, Cece nearly fainted when she saw A Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats for the first time; it was that beautiful. She learned how to draw by doing all the doodles in the Ed Emberley books from her school library. She still has not learned how to ride an elevator without fear.

In 2015 she was awarded a Newbery Honor for her graphic memoir El Deafo.

Editorial Reviews

07/08/2019

The title says it all: this early reader comic by Newbery Honor author Bell features plenty of bonkers humor. Four vignettes pair Chick, a dainty yellow bird, with a clonking human called Brain, who possesses an exposed brain, a pair of heart-printed boxer shorts, and huge feet. Chick wants Brain to be polite: “No, Brain, no. I say Hello, Brain. Then you say Hello, Chick.” Brain does not want to be polite, and he does not mind when Chick indicates he is not very smart. Instead, he says, “Smell my foot!” Weirdly, Brain’s foot smells great. Bell’s ink-and-wash panel artwork zeroes in on the characters’ faces and gestures. In the second tale, Spot the dog appears. He likes chicken and invites Chick for lunch. For lunch? Comic tension mounts as Chick, oblivious to danger, lectures the dog: “You did not say thank you for the salt.” Spot’s eyes narrow. “GRRRR,” he says. “THANK.” “YOU. “FOR.” “THE.” “SALT.” Thank goodness for Brain, whose secret weapon neutralizes Spot. Simple vocabulary packed with tension and humor keeps readers’ interest high.Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

In this first series entry, Bell flips the repetitive primer structure on its head and transforms it into a winning oddball comedy. With a limited vocabulary of around 120 words—exclusively presented through dialogue—the four-chapter story is a careful blend of verbal and visual humor. The comic-book format, with usually one to four panels per page, heightens the silly factor with well-placed punchlines. Bell's highly expressive watercolor and ink cartoon illustrations set characters against sparse backgrounds...Fragrant fun for first readers.
—Kirkus Reviews

The title says it all: this early reader comic by Newbery Honor author Bell features plenty of bonkers humor...Simple vocabulary packed with tension and humor keeps readers’ interest high.
—Publishers Weekly

It’s as silly as it sounds, just the way budding readers like it, and the word and sentence repetition are good for literacy development as well as remembering your manners. Boisterous art matches the situations with goofy figures in hyperbolic positions, and young readers will love seeing the danger coming before the characters do. A viable Elephant & Piggie alternative for slightly more advanced readers.
—Booklist

This easy reader’s panels and word bubbles provide comedic timing while parsing the text into digestible parts, which thoughtfully assists children new to both independent reading and the comics form. Bold outlines and exaggerated features in the watercolor and ink illustrations accentuate the playful absurdity of the narrative in this four-chapter comedy of errors.
—The Horn Book

From the Publisher

08/01/2019

K-Gr 2—Bell (El Deafo; I Yam a Donkey!; "Rabbit & Robot") returns with another story about grammar, miscommunication, and odd couple friends. In this graphic novel send-up of the "Dick and Jane" primers, Brain, clad only in heart-patterned boxers and sporting either an external brain or a gray hairdo that resembles one, is trying to convince a politeness-obsessed chick to smell his foot. Chick criticizes Brain's phrasing ("I will not smell your foot until you say PLEASE") and intelligence ("Brain, you look very smart…But you are not very smart"). This focus on manners at the expense of kindness almost causes Chick to miss out on what turns out to be Brain's truly alluring foot odor. When Spot the dog wanders by, sniffs Chick's foot, and invites the oblivious bird to lunch (as the intended main course), Brain comes to Chick's rescue by knocking Spot out with the aroma from his (apparently stinky) other foot. New readers may be thrown by the beats of Chick and Brain's dialogue, since the humor relies on unexpected responses (as in the opening exchange: "HELLO, BRAIN." "Yeah, I know. I am Brain.") and discussion of conversational norms. However, the short length and engagingly goofy art—reminiscent of James Proimos's "Johnny Mutton" series—will be a draw for kids who love quirky characters and the amusing premise. VERDICT Although not as successful as Bell's best work, and potentially confusing for some new readers, this hilariously wacky tale will resonate with many children.–Miriam DesHarnais, Towson University, MD

School Library Journal

2019-06-10
A comedic duo stars in their first comic—a playful homage to the Dick and Jane books.

Brain certainly looks smart. But, by Chick's assessment, Brain's social ineptitude says otherwise. Chick minds their p's and q's, modeling proper behavior for Brain to emulate. Brain takes Chick's repeat-after-me lessons a bit too literally, however. Instead of copying, Brain responds directly—often hilariously off-script. In exchange after exchange, the pair's silly chemistry peaks with the human and the bird smelling each other's feet. Soon, a dog named Spot arrives on the scene, adding their nose to the mix. All that foot sniffing—specifically, yummy chicken foot sniffing—prompts Spot to invite Chick over for an exclusive lunch. Will Chick see through Spot's politeness before winding up on the menu? In this first series entry, Bell flips the repetitive primer structure on its head and transforms it into a winning oddball comedy. With a limited vocabulary of around 120 words—exclusively presented through dialogue—the four-chapter story is a careful blend of verbal and visual humor. The comic-book format, with usually one to four panels per page, heightens the silly factor with well-placed punchlines. Bell's highly expressive watercolor and ink cartoon illustrations set characters against sparse backgrounds. It's up to readers to decide whether the wrinkly gray mass atop white-presenting Brain's head is tightly curled gray hair or an exposed brain.

Fragrant fun for first readers. (Graphic early reader. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews