CORNBREAD AND POPPY AT THE CARNIVAL

CORNBREAD AND POPPY AT THE CARNIVAL by Matthew Cordell

I really like the first book in this series, Cornbread and Poppy, so I picked up the second one. It started off really cute! The carnival is in town, so Cornbread and Poppy go off to check it out. Poppy loves the rides that make Cornbread sick to his stomach, and Cornbread loves the ferris wheel that has Poppy panicking over the height! A story showing two friends having a good time together and knowing what they like and don't like.Where it all went south for me is when they start arguing over a peanut they find. It turns into a yelling and screaming match. (The book uses the words "yelled" and "screamed.") The illustrations show each of them on the ground kicking and throwing a tantrum like a toddler. Needless to say, for me, the book dropped a few notches on my "like meter" at that point. I think it would be perfectly acceptable for these two to have a disagreement in life. They're friends. They might even raise their voice. But scream at each other? Flop on the ground like toddlers? These two are too old for that, and my kids wouldn't have needed to see that behavior as an option in handling difficult situations. No thank you! They do come back and decide to share the peanut. They hug each other, but there is no verbal, "I'm sorry." I'm not impressed.