Are You Eating Candy without Me?

Curious children have a question for their caregivers—what do they do when the kids are away? In a barrage of humorous and telling questions, the children set out to find the answer. Beginning more rationally, the children ask questions like “Do all the rules apply when I’m not home?” The advancing questions turn increasingly creative and funny—“Do you go to fancy parties with ice cream, cake, and ponies?”—before uttering the climax of their questions: “Are you eating candy without me!?!?” The children trustingly answer for the parents, stating their parents surely just spend all day thinking of their child . . . “Right?!?!?” Bruijn’s vibrant, playful, and sweet illustrations exude joy and include a lovely touch of diversity, both in character ethnicity and caretaker age. The illustrations build on Malesevic’s portrayal of wonderfully imagined scenarios from the children, showcasing the power of a child’s imagination along with their interests (candy, playing dress up, candy, jumping on trampolines, and candy). While the story doesn’t have one central laugh-out-loud moment, the children’s imaginative questions and the hilarious details in the illustrations (a mom chowing down on a giant carrot, grandma telling the plants to be kind to others and swinging on a licorice vine, candy and ice cream costumes, and gumdrops perfectly stacked in a tower on a father’s knee) make this a delightful read for candy lovers and neutralists alike!