The Panda Problem

When the narrator of this new meta-fictional picture-book from author Deborah Underwood begins to spin a tale of a panda bear with a problem, the subject of her story blithely insist he doesn't have any kind of problem. No matter how much she questions him, the panda can't think of any issue.

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Finally he decides that she, the narrator, must be the one with the problem, and that that problem is him. Seizing control of the story, he takes it in a direction the narrator doesn't expect. But when he ends up in a jam, he appeals to her to get gim back to his bamboo grove...

Having enjoyed a number of Deborah Underwood's other picture-books, from The Quiet Book and its sequels to Interstellar Cinderella, I picked up The Panda Problem with a feeling of anticipation. I don't know if it's just that I've grown a little tired of the meta-fictional "breaking the fourth wall" picture-book craze, but somehow this one just didn't appeal to me as much as I had expected. There's nothing really wrong here - the story is fun, the artwork cute - but I think I prefer books like Mélanie Watt's Chester, when it comes to this kind of thing. Still, tastes vary, so readers in the market for new meta-fictional picture-books might want to give this one a try.

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