From Barnes & Noble
For reasons that no one can apparently remember, the Town of Left and the Town of Right have been distinct, hostile zones, separated by a dotted line and guarded by the Order of the Ambidextrous Knights. One day, their uneasy peace is broken when some unlucky soul strays across the line. To stop this unthinkable invasion, the Knights unload all their advanced weaponry, which consists of 50,000 boxes of marshmallows. Judi and Ron Barrett transport us into a surrealistic realm that all fans of their classic Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will appreciate.
Publishers Weekly
The rival towns of Left and Right provide the fanciful medieval setting of this middling fable by the creators of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Recalling etchings, Ron Barrett's pen-and-ink art humorously depicts the towns' separatist stances (“We proudly serve leftovers” announces a sign at Lefty's restaurant, while the words on Right's clock tower, which displays only the right side of the clock face, boasts “Always the Right Time”). Mayhem erupts when someone inadvertently does the unthinkable and crosses the dotted yellow line separating the two towns. Armor-clad members of the Order of the Ambidextrous Knights of the Dotted Yellow Line begin firing the only ammunition they have: thousands of marshmallows. A knight finally “realized how silly the whole thing was” and suggests that the divisive line between the towns be wiped out, which ends the marshmallow attack—and the longstanding enmity. Many of the tale's particulars are silly indeed, and the message about respecting differences ends up getting buried beneath the fluff. Ages 3–8. (Aug.)
Children's Literature
- Phyllis J. Perry
The reader learns that the marshmallow incident happened so long ago that no one remembers why it ever happened. The story still lives because these strange events were written in a diary that survived and was found in the ruins of a castle. It is the story of two towns separated by a dotted yellow line. On one side was the town of Left where everyone was left-handed, and on the other side was the town of Right, where everyone was right-handed. The towns are watched over by the Ambidextrous Knights who keep the dotted line neat and bright and make sure that no one ever crosses it. The knights live in a small castle in the middle of the yellow line. The castle is filled with marshmallows that one of the knights won in a poetry contest. One day during a celebration, a man accidentally falls across the line. The knights ride into action. They catapult thousands of marshmallows into the air. One knight finally questions why the line is there. After a town meeting, it is decided to do away with the dividing line. Young readers will enjoy the both the story and detailed illustrations. Reviewer: Phyllis J. Perry
School Library Journal
Gr 1–4—Two towns are divided by a dotted yellow line. On one side is Left, where all the left-handed people reside. On the other…well, I'm sure you get the idea. For untold generations, nobody crossed from one town to the other, and the boundary was guarded by the Order of Ambidextrous Knights. Then someone from Right stumbled over the line. What chaos! What outrage! The knights began shooting—but the only ammunition they could find was their vast supply of marshmallows. As the countryside filled with fluffy white sweets, the citizens' thoughts also became fluffier and a decision was reached to eradicate the line. Peace and feasting (and, presumably, sugar shock) ensued. This is a moderately interesting, if not scintillating, fable. The moral of the tale and the marshmallows appear to have been accidentally thrown into the same book. The text might well sink under a surplus of words. But Ron Barrett's illustrations keep the book afloat with funny, and punny, details. While The Marshmallow Incident probably won't be first on everyone's reading list, some of the notions—and most of the illustrations—will raise a smile, for all the right (and left) reasons.—Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY
Kirkus Reviews
Timed to coincide with the release of the film of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, this unrelated tale from the Barretts is a wan fable about Getting Along, enlivened with a little pale silliness. The medieval-ish towns of Left and Right (inhabited by persons of the corresponding handedness) are close to each other but separated by a dotted yellow line guarded by the Order of the Ambidextrous Knights of the Dotted Yellow Line-which, thanks to a poetic member of the order, has in its castle 50,000 boxes of marshmallows won some years earlier in a contest. When a hapless resident of Right accidentally falls over the line, the Knights let loose with volleys of marshmallows "until one of the knights realize[s] how silly the whole thing [is]" and the people of Left and Right decide to erase the line and live happily ever after in peace, harmony and marshmallows. The overlong text never really gets past its vaguely Monty Python-esque premise, making it an insufficiently daffy, one-joke Lesson in Cooperation rather than the full-on goof-fest that made the Barretts' earlier book such a favorite. (Picture book. 4-8)
