Book Description
for Munmun by Jesse Andrews
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
In a parallel world, the size of humans depends on how much money (munmun) they have. The poorest people are tiny (the size of rats) and face daily challenges and dangers (cats, being stepped on, or just getting from Point A to Point B can all prove deadly). Wealthy people are giant-sized by comparison and have to eat and drink massive quantities just to stay alive. But no one is stuck in their sizes, and with enough munmun, a tiny person can size up. Warner is a scrappy LittlePoor—the smallest, poorest, and weakest of beings. At his mother’s direction, he and his best friend Usher accompany Warner’s sister across town to a law school campus, hoping she will attract the attentions of a MiddleRich law student who might fall in love with her and then size her—and possibly, the whole family—up. Their escapades are both hilarious and hair-raising as events unfold in Warner’s comically distinctive voice. Warner uses a deliciously skewed English, which includes new compound words and clever phonetic spellings, in this original novel that offers a sharp, witty social satire, as well as an exploration of economic inequities. (Age 12 and older)
CCBC Choices 2019. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2019. Used with permission.