Mustache

Author: Mac Barnett
Illustrator:   Kevin Cornell
Publisher:  Hyperion
Publication Year:   2011
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   Junior Library Guild Choice

Summary: King Duncan is so vain that his kingdom falls down around hm while he spends his time admiring himself (and putting up billboards "Remember: Your King is a Dreamboat!") His subjects demand that he does something to fix things. But instead he creates a large scroll that says "I'm Great!" which someone vandalizes with a mustache. Everything in the kingdom gets mustaches too and the king is perplexed. The reader gets let into the secret when we find out that everyone in the kingdom is drawing mustaches, so the king makes the whole kingdom into a jail for the people. At the end the king decides to join in on the fun and draws on his own mustache. The framed illustrations refer back to classic fairy tales, as do the illuminated initials and the scroll-like textboxes.

Classroom Ideas: This book will make kids giggle in glee at the silly king. A good compare and contrast could be done with Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, another vain character.