Meet the Dullards

Product Description In the tradition of The Stupids, Meet the Dullards is a clever and irreverent picture book about a comically boring family, from bestselling author Sara Pennypacker and illustrator Daniel Salmieri. Their home is boring. Their food is plain. Their lives are monotonous. And Mr. and Mrs. Dullard like it that way. But their children—Blanda, Borely, and Little Dud—have other ideas. . . . Never has dullness been so hilarious than in this deadpan, subversive tale. From School Library Journal K-Gr 2—In this tongue-in-cheek tale, Mr. and Mrs. Dullard take great pride in being humdrum. Family activities include watching paint dry and savoring vanilla ice cream ("Hold the cones. And extract the vanilla"). The Dullards are horrified at exclamation marks, flowered wallpaper, and sociable neighbors bearing gifts of applesauce cake. They try their best to shelter their children from such colorful influences. Away from their parents' watchful gaze, however, Salmieri's colored-pencil illustrations humorously show Blanda, Borely, and Little Dud breaking out of their mild molds by juggling paintbrushes, climbing on clotheslines, and befriending puppies. There are also plenty of sight gags to chuckle at, from the children gathered around an unplugged, blank television screen to piles of plain cardboard boxes full of "gray shirts." VERDICT This title follows in the quirky tradition of Harry Allard's "The Stupids" books (Houghton), with clever wordplay and subversive fun that will appeal to children everywhere.—Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada Review “This title follows in the quirky tradition of Harry Allard’s “The Stupids” books (Houghton), with clever wordplay and subversive fun that will appeal to children everywhere.” -- School Library Journal (starred review) “Pennypacker’s droll, deadpan text is matched by Salmieri’s flat and hilarious illustrations.” -- Horn Book Magazine (starred review) “Kids will immediately pick up the concept and make it into their own joke, and they’ll agree that this is the most enjoyable tedium they’ve ever experienced.” -- Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review) “Pennypacker packs the pages full of winning jokes, while Salmieri’s colored-pencil art creates a perfectly monotonous world of straight angles and nondescript coloring. Rarely has boring been this boisterous.” -- Booklist From the Back Cover Their home is boring.Their food is plain.Their lives are monotonous. And Mr. and Mrs. Dullard like it that way. But their children—Blanda, Borely, and Little Dud—have other ideas. . . . Never has dullness been more hilarious than in this subversive, deadpan tale by bestselling creators Sara Pennypacker and Daniel Salmieri. About the Author Sara Pennypacker is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Pax; the award-winning Clementine books and its spinoff series, Waylon!; and the acclaimed novel Summer of the Gypsy Moths. She divides her time between Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Florida. You can visit her online at www.sarapennypacker.com. Daniel Salmieri was born in Brooklyn, New York. After that, nothing much else happened. Oh yeah—he did illustrate some books: Dragons Love Tacos, Secret Pizza Party, and Those Darn Squirrels!