Strawberry Ice Cream
The First Adventure
In the lighthearted picture book Strawberry Ice Cream, a frozen treat on an adventure learns subtle lessons about neighborliness.
In Suzannah Brock Morris’s jovial picture book Strawberry Ice Cream, a scoop of ice cream seeks a life beyond the parlor.
Growing up in a freezer, Strawberry watched all of his relatives be taken from their carton. To avoid the same fate, he leaps onto the ground and escapes. He meets people who, for various reasons including preferring chocolate, decline to keep him. In time, Strawberry is introduced to a birthday boy who decides to befriend and store but not consume him, all in hopes of sharing further adventures.
The humans in the story are at most polite passersby, with few distinguishing features beyond helping the straightforward, gentle plot to move along. That no one seems fazed by how unpalatable Strawberry is (having rolled along on the ground) adds to the silliness too. Indeed, despite the conventional outcome in having him frozen once again, Strawberry is a charming hero, and his lighthearted experiences introduce subtle lessons about neighborliness.
The crisp, upbeat prose emphasizes Strawberry’s actions, moving at a steady pace through his adventures. It is paired with scribbled black-and-white illustrations in which Strawberry is depicted as a smiling circle with eyes. Plain backgrounds keep the focus on him and showcase the humor of his situation. A woman he encounters is depicted only by her shoe, which, from Strawberry’s sidewalk vantage, is all that matters to him. Absurdity is also plentiful, as when Strawberry is strapped into a car with a seat belt.
Still, because the artwork is sparse, it exists at odds with the book’s otherwise elegant design, including the vintage-inspired linen binding and interspersed pink papers that mirror the strawberry theme. Variations in the typography, including the occasional use of larger fonts, generate visual interest too.
Strawberry Ice Cream is a playful picture book about an ice cream scoop’s search for a new home.
Reviewed by
Karen Rigby
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
