Revisiting: Chris Raschka’s Arlene Sardine

Then she was smoked, delicately. She was delicately smoked. Delicately smoked was she.

Those are my favorite lines from the book that introduced me to Chris Rashka, Arlene Sardine.When it was published way back in 1998it created a fair amount of controversy given the fact that the title character dies mid-way though the book. Some thought it hilarious (count me among them), some thought it dreadful, and some were simply perplexed. (You can listen to Daniel Pinkwater and Scott Simon read and di...