The Invitation by Nicola Smee, 1989.
This fun picture book is written in comic book form. Almost all of the text is in speech bubbles in the pictures.
One morning, Leo finds an unexpected prize in his cereal box: an invitation to dinner at a fancy restaurant! He and his parents decide to accept the invitation, getting dressed up for the occasion.
The food is great, and Leo notices that there is a band playing. He asks his mother if she’s going to dance, and on a whim, she decides to dance with the waiter with the dessert cart.
From there, the evening goes from good to great for everyone! The restaurant turns into a party with everyone dancing, Leo’s mother swinging from the chandelier, and the musicians having the time of their lives!
Then, a lady who is a dancing with Leo loses one of her diamond earrings. Leo volunteers to find it for her, and it turns up in an unexpected place.
The evening is such a success that the owner of the restaurant invites them to dinner the next night, too!
The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive. It was first published in Great Britain.
My Reaction
In real life, fancy adult restaurants tend to serve foods that kids don’t like and require a level of etiquette that kids often find stifling, but in this fun, comic book style story, Leo and his parents have the time of their lives on this fun evening out! All of the adults in the story are open to some zany fun, and even the owner of the restaurant enjoys himself so much that he’d love to have them back the next day.
Like all picture books, it’s the details in the pictures that really make the story. The story doesn’t tell you that the reason why the cereal box prize was an invitation to this restaurant is that the restaurant owner also owns that brand of cereal, but it’s shown in the pictures, with his name on the box. When Leo and his parents arrive at the restaurant, the owner meets them and compliments them on their taste in cereal. Later, he’s shown eating a bowl of his cereal himself. I also loved the picture that includes Leo’s mother letting loose and swinging on the chandelier. The other people in the restaurant are also eccentrics. One of the dancing women is wearing a dress with a banana print and a matching hat with a banana on it, and while Leo is searching for the lost earring, he finds a lady in an elephant print dress and fuzzy slippers. There’s nothing dull about this elegant dinner or the people enjoying it!
A boy called Nicky and his mother are looking for a new place to live somewhere in New England. The mother wants to buy an old cottage with the idea of turning it into a tea room. At first, they have trouble finding a place, but finally they buy an old house that badly needs fixing up, not knowing that there is an old witch living there.
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