Have you heard of the world-famous burping twins? They could stun a rhino, fell a tree and even shatter glass with their burps! They took their fearsome burps with them everywhere they went, burping in libraries and scaring waiters with their outbursts. As you can imagine, they were not very popular in their town and found that, eventually, the townsfolk asked them to leave. Poor Ben and Matt! But then, the world is faced with something much worse than a couple of burping boys! However will everyone escape from the invasion of the toy-stealing aliens?!
I have to say, when it comes to burps I personally have a rather weak stomach and have been known to come over very queasy whenever anyone does an especially loud belch! So this book isn’t, personally, my favourite one to read and I did feel a little bit sick on my first read-through! I do appreciate the appeal, however, and it’s wonderfully silly and fun so I’ve found that now I can at least read it without gagging!
Whilst the toy-stealing aliens are wreaking havoc across the land, Ben and Matt come up with an amazing plan to save the world. All they need to carry out their plan is two cans of fizzy pop (shaken up before drinking) and then they are primed and ready to fire off their very biggest, most smelly and terrifying burp ever! The aliens can’t bear it and so decide to run away, never to return, and thus Ben and Matt save the world with a burp.
I don’t think you need me to point out that this book will elicit a lot of belching activity, and I think most families will instantly know if this is the sort of book they will love, or if it’s already loathsome without even opening it! I enjoyed the cartoon-ish pictures with, obviously, a lot of wide-mouthed burping, but also the funny reactions of those in the vicinity of the burping twins, my favourite being a very cross rabbit! The story has one of those interesting attempts to shake things up part way through where you need to turn the whole book longways to read the words and see the picture. In this story it is saved for the alien invasion, and although I felt it was a little unnecessary I did laugh aloud at the alien ship’s bumper sticker which reads Honk if you like getting neutralized!
It is silly, and noisy, and gross, and it’s one of those giggle-inducing stories that makes it absolutely no good for bedtime because you’ll spend fifteen minutes trying to calm everyone down again! But for an afternoon pick-me-up (perhaps not on a full stomach) this is a great book.