Picture Book Review: A marshmallow-eatin’ pig,
evil bunnies, and two very good friends

h1 March 8th, 2007 by jules

Best Buds (Alfred A. Knopf; January 2007; my source: review copy) is the first book in a series entitled The Adventures of Max and Pinky by Vermonter Maxwell Eaton III (what is it about Vermont that makes it churn out — or at least draw to it — talented children’s book authors?), this story inspired by a book Eaton created for an elementary school Spanish class.

Bald-headed Max loves to hang out with his best bud, Pinky, a piglet who lives for marshmallows. Eaton establishes right off the bat that they’re best friends, always have been, and always will be, giving us a quick glimpse of Max and Pinky in their younger days and a peek into their future. They love adventure, and every Saturday, in fact, is Adventure Day.

But on this one particular weekend, Max cannot find Pinky and begins to worry. What if he’s lost in the woods or has been carried away by bunnies? Max wonders. Off he goes to find Pinky. A random polar bear in the nearby pond (who indicates — with a wry humor that shines in the book — that he’s certainly “not from around here”) gives Max the inspiration he needs; the polar bear posterior view looks awfully familar — aha! Pinky must be where ever the marshmallows are. Needless to say, he finds Pinky near said marshmallows (“Busted!”), gives him a warm hug, and they begin their day of adventures.

This book is great fun and wonderfully funny, too. Rendered quite economically and with bold colors (mostly blues and greens) and colored digitally, the illustrations are spare but humorous, Max bringing immediately to mind a 21st-century Charlie Brown. The story has a big heart, centering as it does on the friendship of Max and Pinky. They’re tight, ya’ll. But it’s Eaton’s humorous asides that bring the chuckles for both children and the adults sharing it with them. My favorite moment has to be the aforesaid one in which Max worries where Pinky could be: Has he been carried away by bunnies? Eaton shows us Pinky being carried off by an army of bunnies in Max’s mind; the evil leader bunny of sorts, waiting as the other bunnies mosh-pit transport Pinky along, exclaims “{h}ope you like carrots!” Mwahahahahahaha! his delightfully nefarious eyebrows seem to indicate. It’s very amusing. Then there’s the moment in which, as Max is still looking for Pinky, he asks around the big red barn. He’s speaking to the horses, and one says — via his dialogue balloon — “{i}sn’t he usually with some bald kid?” to which the other horse replies, “{p}sst . . . Chuck. That’s him.” (Could Chuck be another Charlie Brown reference? Only Eaton knows, I suppose).

Children will likely and instantly appeal to Pinky and his inability to focus on anything but his favorite thing, his favorite snack, his favorite pastime — in his case, marshmallows and eating marshmallows. Marshmallows, marshmallows, all things marshmallows. They will enjoy the baseline silliness that pervades the story as well, but most of all, what Kirkus Reviews aptly calls “a warm affirmation of budship.”

Apparently, Eaton — who was denied a pet goat in childhood — plans to include one in future Max and Pinky adventures. Here’s looking forward. Eaton’s is a series to watch with interest.





2 comments to “Picture Book Review: A marshmallow-eatin’ pig,
evil bunnies, and two very good friends”

  1. […] creator of the the Max and Pinky picture book sagas, two of which have been covered here at 7-Imp (here and here), all published by Random House, and what Kirkus Reviews has called “a warm […]


  2. […] creator of the the Max and Pinky picture book sagas, two of which have been covered here at 7-Imp (here and here), all published by Random House, and what Kirkus Reviews has called “a warm […]


Leave a Comment


Should you have trouble posting, please contact sevenimp_blaine@blaine.org. Thanks.