Where do you stand on practical jokes? There is one camp that stands firmly on the side of a joke is a joke is a joke, and everyone should just laugh it off no matter what. There is the other camp on the side of sometimes jokes can be taken too far, and the situation becomes more mean than funny. What do you think? If I'm being honest, I'm probably not the biggest fan of practical jokes. They always strike me as a bit mean-spirited, and I feel uncomfortable laughing at someone else's expense.
In the new book by now-beloved duo, Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen, two friends learn what it means to play a practical joke on a friend and what it means to take that joke too far.
Triangle and Square are two friends in a world of shapes. Triangle plays a trick on Square. Square is afraid of snakes, and triangle pretends to be a snake. It scared Square, but he gets his friends back by playing a trick on Triangle. Kids will enjoy the funny parts of this book. I have mixed emotions about this one. I love this author/illustrator duo's style, but I have some reservations about the story. I was having a conversation on Instagram about the story, and someone brought up a good point. The story focus is overall negative, and it seems like the friends play mean jokes on each other without learning to treat each other kindly in the end. Food for thought. Speaking of food . . . . . we made cookies!!!
We made some story-themed snacks today. Y'all know that I have a Pinterest board with one million ways to cook and craft, but at the end of the day, I love a project that needs no Pinterest pin but instead can be put together in ten minutes with minimal fuss. These cookies/brownies are that minimal fuss project that will go perfectly with your Triangle reading.
What you need:
- your favorite chocolate cookie dough or brownie recipe/mix (I used Dorie Greenspan's famous and delicious World Peace Cookies recipe.)
- candy eyes
- Nutella or melted chocolate
What to do:
- bake cookies/brownies according to the recipe.
- cut into triangles. (you could cut into triangles and then bake, but every time I do this, i get more triangle blobs instead of crisp-edged shapes. It's up to you.)
- use the Nutella or melted chocolate to adhere the eyes to the cookie/brownie.
- enjoy your Mac Barnett creations!