A Cure for the Hiccups
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- ¥1,000
発行者による作品情報
Is it possible to have the hiccups forever? In this delightfully fun picture book, a determined kid who’s good at everything discovers that being patient and taking a deep breath may be the perfect place to start.
When Max gets a persistent case of the hiccups, she tries everything to make them go away. She tries holding her breath. She tries drinking water upside down. She tries standing on her head and doing a somersault, but nothing works. “The only way to get rid of the hiccups is to wait,” says her grandmother. But Max doesn’t have time to wait!
Soon, her imagination runs wild. What if she sets a record for the longest case of hiccups? Will doctors study her? Will babies stare at her? And what if, when she becomes president, the entire world hears her hiccup? But then, she starts to listen to the leaves rustling in the wind and feels the sun on her face. She takes a breath, she pauses, she waits…and the unexpected occurs.
Jennifer E. Smith’s imaginative and funny picture book, with bright illustrations by Brandon James Scott, reminds children—and adults—that discovering the solution to a problem sometimes requires taking a few breaths and slowing down.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Headstrong Max, portrayed with red hair and pink skin, has the hiccups, and none of the usual remedies are working. Digital cartoon vignettes by Scott (Metal Baby) show the comically discombobulated protagonist trying everything from drinking water upside down to plugging her nose while licking a lemon. Stepping out onto the front porch, Max's clearly chill grandmother counsels, "If you're patient enough, they'll tiptoe away on their own. You won't even notice." As Smith (The Creature of Habit) notes, this isn't new advice—Grandma is always telling Max "To pause./ To wait./ To be," and Max is always charging ahead. When the hiccups persist, Max pictures herself becoming a case study for baffled doctors, being "thrown out of schools and theaters and museums for being too loud," and even hiccupping through a tenure as U.S. president. Finally taking the mindfulness plunge, she listens to "the scritch of the leaves as the trees sway in the wind," breathes deeply, and "for the first time, she just is." And it works! Rooted in a silly premise, it's an aptly gentle look at the connection between the mindful and the somatic. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. Author's agent: Jennifer Joel, CAA. Illustrator's agent: Emily Van Beek, Folio Literary.
