The 13-Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths, illustrated by Terry Denton, 239 pp, RL 2
The 13-Story Treehouse is the latest Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton, the geniuses behind the beginning to read books that look like chapter books and are even better than Dr Seuss, The Cat on the Mat is Flat and The Big Fat Cow That Goes Kapow. If you know any of the many books these two have created, then you know that they are masters of the absurd and have MAJOR boy appeal. With this new series (The 26-Story Treehouse is already out in Griffiths and Denton's native Australia and The 39-Story Treehouse is in the works) the reading level is a bit higher and there is more text and a longer narrative but there are still crazy, cartoonish illustrations by Denton on every page. And there is actually a plot.
Although the illustrations are all in black and white in The 13-Story Treehouse, I have color illustrations to share with you here. After a quick tour of the treehouse, Andy and Terry reveal that they get the ideas for some of their stories from their own lives. The 13-Story Treehouse, it seems came out of a missed deadline with their publisher, the angry Mr. Big Nose, and Terry's secret experiment with their pet-loving neighbor Jill's cat, Silky. Terry wants a canary, so he paints the cat yellow and launches it off of one of the platforms of the treehouse, at which point it instantly sprouts wings and becomes a Catnary, which flies off. After worrying about how Jill will feel about her cat, the two decide to get down to writing and illustrating the book they owe Mr. Big Nose, but a few things, such as "giant banana attacks, barking dogs, pretend mermaids, evil sea monsters, popcorn parties, lemonade guzzling, burp-gas filled bubblegum bubbles [and] marshmallow trampolines" as well as a shipment of sea monkeys that turns out to be real monkeys that threaten to take over the treehouse, Silky returns to save the day with a whole flock of catnaries - 13 to be exact, and the guys decide to write about their crazy day instead of trying to make up a story!
Here is a little taste of what you can expect to find in the 13-Story Treehouse:
Hi, my name is Andy.
This is my friend Terry.
We live in a tree.
Well, when I say 'tree', I mean treehouse.
And when I say 'treehouse', I don't mean any old treehouse -
I mean a 13-storey treehouse!
So what are you waiting for?
Come on up!
It's got a bowling alley,
a see-through swimming pool,
a tank full of man-eating sharks,
vines you can swing on,
a games room,
a secret underground laboratory,
a lemonade fountain,
a vegetable vaporiser,
and a marshmallow machine that follows you around and automatically shoots marshmallows into your mouth whenever you're hungry.
As well as being our home, the treehouse is also where we make books together. I write the words and Terry draws the pictures.
As you can see, we've been doing this for quite a while now.
THE 13-STORY TREEHOUSE!
Coming soon.... The 26-Story Treehouse!!
And coming not quite as soon, you guessed it - The 39-Story Treehouse!
Source: Review Copy
