The Great Lollipop Caper-ridiculously clever and really funny

The Great Lollipop Caper by Dan Krall is the title of the book and an allegory. Allegory sounds like a serious Shakespearean word that can’t possible denote anything fun or light.  Ah, but The Great Lollipop Caper is allegory at its finest, aimed at children, but with adults possibly getting the most enjoyment out of the book.

As this is a children’s book it starts out with the introduction of Mr. Caper.  It correctly states that he’s a tiny thing that lives in a jar in the fridge and is never eaten by children.  Mr. Caper doesn’t like Lollipop because all of the children love him.

The adults love Mr. Caper and he’s celebrated whenever he walks through town. Mr. Caper is jealous of the attention and love that Lollipop gets from the children and hatches a plan to be loved by the kids too.   Mr. Caper sneaks into the lollipop factory and makes all of the lollipops taste like capers.

The lollipops are then sent around the world and little children love the caper tasting lollipops.  But, the children become bitter and sour, just like the caper.  This makes the adults angry, which leads them to get angry with Mr. Caper.  Lollipop realizes what’s going on, invites the children to lick him again and upon doing so all of them become their normal sweet selves again.

This book is funny for children and adults.  It’s genuinely funny.  The illustrations are bright, goofy, manic and simple without being basic.  There are some sparse pages where the story requires big illustrations to help tell the story.  When Mr. Caper sneaks into the lollipop factory it’s just him walking between massive vats of lollipop batter with no dialogue.

Between the bright illustrations there is plenty of sublime humor.  My favorite is when Mr. Caper sneaks into said lollipop factory and is asked if he’s a caper by the security guard.  There’s a sign on the gate that says “No Capers” and the entire page is very dry, Monty Pyhtonish.

Who will enjoy The Great Lollipop Caper more, the children or the adults?  That is entirely up to you, ours liked it because we loved reading it.  It’s the perfect length for a children’s book, has lot of situations and questions you can talk about and is totally goofy.

Children’s books don’t come much more perfect for the entire family than The Great Lollipop Caper.   The ages that the book is recommended for are 4-8, however we’d extend that up through 82.

 

We received a promotional copy of the book for review purposes.  All thoughts are our own.  Capers on pizza are also excellent.