Custard Surprise

by Bernard Lodge, Tim Bowers (Illustrator)

When two chickens open a diner, you never know what might end up on your plate. But what begins as a recipe for disaster ends with a barrelful of laughs, a barrelful of fun, and a barrelful of custard surprise! Bernard Lodge stirs up some excitement with a hilarious story and a colorful cast of characters. Delicious illustrations by Tim Bowers add to this sweet treat that will have readers begging for a second helping.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Food, Animals

48 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2007

Reviews

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of chickens open a diner and try to serve diner food. But their animal customers want animal food: the horse wants hay, the crow wants worms and the fox wants chicken.

Cartoony art. Silly story. I found the internal logic confusing, but my five-year-olds don't care.

[Melissa Namba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story about adapting to the needs of the customer and being creative. There is also a big bad wolf in this story.

[Sana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hilarious book with so many repeated sentences, which makes it a perfect choice for beginner readers.

[Jayme Carruthers]

I really liked this story because you kind of had a guess what was coming, but more than likely there was a twist you’d never think of. The idea of two friends opening a diner together is an interesting one to cover, especially if they are chickens. Everyone can relate to the struggle Rufus has with nobody wanting to try his custard surprise that he was so proud of. I read this out loud to a 1st grade class at Holy Trinity and they loved it. It kept them very interested and guessing throughout the entire story.

This book could easily be used when teaching the difference between fiction and non-fiction. It would be in Kindergarten or 1st grade and you could explain that animals are talking, so therefore this story can’t be real. Real stories are called “non-fiction” and things that are made up are “fiction”. It could also be used to teach inferencing. Students can guess what each animal is going to order at the diner and see if they’re right. They can also make up their own diner guests and decide what they would order if they went to Dinah’s Diner.

[Jennifer Oaks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a very fun and humorous one. Two chickens open up a diner and all the customers want nothing on the menu. They want them to try the custard surprise. They end up using it to protect themselves from a fox.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an I can read level 2. It's a high-interest story for developing readers. Two chickens open up a diner with expectations in hand, only to have many unexpected adventures with odd ball food requests. We enjoyed this one as a good family bed time read.

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The restaurant was very dirty. The cook had to get things that they didn't have.

[♥ Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd book.

[Beyond the Pages with Eva K · Rating 4 out of 5]

What fun it was to read this book! It was adorable. My kids loved it...and so did I.