Marvellous Munsch!: A Robert Munsch Collection

Written by Robert Munsch

Illustrated by Michael Martchenko

Scholastic Canada

978-1-0397-0696-5

184 pp.

Ages 3-8

August 2024 

What's better than a Robert Munsch-Michael Marchenko picture book? Six! In Marvellous Munsch!, young readers are treated to a hard cover collection of six fabulous stories by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Marchenko. So instead of trying to decide which picture book to give them for Christmas, get Marvellous Munsch! for an assortment of wild tales about ice fishing, wildlife, getting muddy, story writing and consumerism. And all stupendously ridiculous!

 

The six stories in Marvellous Munsch! are, in the order of their presentation:  Give Me Back My Dad!, Down the Drain!, Moose!, Put Me In a Book!, Too Much Stuff! and Hugs.

In Give Me Back My Dad! a father and daughter have the tables turned on them while ice fishing. As with each story, Robert Munsch also describes how he came to write the story.

From "Give Me Back My Dad!" in Marvellous Munsch!, written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Marchenko

In Down the Drain!, a fiasco in the bathtub becomes a dangerous but funny game of blackmail as water spills out and about and threatens everything. In Moose!, a moose comes to visit, and Luke has some difficulties getting his family to believe him. (Robert Munsch's note about the story has some interesting variations of the story he tells.) Put Me in a Book! focuses on a girl whose wish to become part of a book becomes a humourous reality but not how she expected.

 

At this time of year, Too Much Stuff! would seem a cautionary tale about consumerism but more about packing for air travel and how everything that seems necessary and can't-live-without may have happy consequences. Finally, Hugs! is exactly as it suggests: a story about a child who takes hugs from a variety of animals, all distinct but perhaps a little bizarre. (A porcupine? A skunk? A snail?)
 

Robert Munsch's stories have never failed to charm with the diversity of his characters, the circumstances of their outrageous situations, and their emphatic and repetitive vocalizations, like "Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!" in Down the Drain and Cheryl jigging her line "up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down" in Give Me Back My Dad! There's a reason he's a favourite of children around the world and Marvellous Munsch! reminds us of the wonderful medley of stories that he has told.

From "Give Me Back My Dad!" in Marvellous Munsch!, written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Marchenko

While kids, either those remembering stories told decades ago or new audience or readers to Robert Munsch's stories, will be enthralled with the laughs and the silliness, they'll recognize the art of Munsch's long-time collaborator Michael Marchenko. Though Robert Munsch has worked with other amazing illustrators, including Dave Whammond, Mike Boldt, Janet Wilson, Dušan Petričić and Jay Odjick, Michael Marchenko is the artist whose work is quintessential for Robert Munsch stories. He gets the goofiness of the stories in the scale of the circumstances, the shock and animation seen in characters' faces, and the liveliness of their stories. Michael Marchenko matches Robert Munsch's word for art and never gives us pause. And there's a telling note about their collaborative process at the of Marvellous Munsch!

From Marvellous Munsch!, written by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Michael Marchenko

If you know little ones who haven't been introduced to Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko's books–is that possible?–then they're in for a treat with Marvellous Munsch! It's the book that keeps on giving, with six tales to make them laugh at the ridiculous and the familiar. And if they already know of this dynamic youngCanLit duo, then there will be more reading and laughter in their future, whether for bedtime reads or Christmas tree snuggles.