Not Enough Lollipops

by Megan Maynor, Micah Player (Illustrator)

Overview

Alice thinks it's her lucky day when she wins a wagon full of lollipops, but sharing them with her classmates is more complicated than it seems. Can she find a fair way to divvy up the sweets?

When Alice wins an enormous basket of lollipops in the raffle she's happy to share her good fortune with friends and classmates, but everyone seems to have a different opinion about how she should divide the bounty. Suddenly, Alice's big prize becomes a big conundrum. Should she give extras to her friends? Should she withhold lollipops from the kids who always hog the tire swing? As she weighs her options, the panic grows. What if there aren't enough to go around!?

This hilarious and thought-provoking story uses lollipops in the school yard to illustrate how cooperation and generosity can make even the most daunting problems solvable.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593372562
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	02/08/2022
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	527,342
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD460L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Megan Maynor is also the author of The Sandcastle That Lola Built, A House for Every Bird, Helga Makes a Name for Herself, Ella and Penguin Stick Together and Ella and Penguin, A Perfect Match. She lives outside Minneapolis with one husband, three kids, and one rabbit. Learn more about Megan and her work at MeganMaynor.com and on Instagram and Twitter at @Megan_Maynor.

Micah Player is a former creative director of Paul Frank Industries and the co-founder and former creative director of Lately Lily. He then went on to write and illustrate the picture book Chloe, Instead and illustrate Guy Stuff: The Body Book for Boys for American Girl and Vote for our Future by Margaret McNamara. He is also the creator of the best-selling Around the World Puzzle and its follow-up, the Around the World Matching Game. Learn more about Micah at speedballart.com or on Instagram at @micahplayer.

Editorial Reviews

10/25/2021

When Alice, who has white skin, dark hair, and sports pink spectacles, wins a wagonload of lollipops in a school raffle, all of her classmates clamor for one: “Can I have one, too?” “Sure, if there’s enough,” says Alice. But her nonchalance strikes a definite chord: her peers respond first with panic (“There aren’t enough?!”), then with bribes, threats, and sob stories (“I haven’t had a lollipop since my last haircut,” wails a shaggy kid), and even attempts to turn one classmate against another (“Don’t count the New Kid. This prize is for your real classmates”). Player’s (Paletero Man) digital cartooning uses a candy-hued palette to emphasize the school’s escalating mania, with compositions that lean into the book’s horizontal format offering a sense of the commotion’s emotional and geographic sweep. Finally, Alice insists the kids line up for the treats, and sanity is restored: some realize that lollipops aren’t such a big deal, apologies are proffered to offended parties, and it turns out there are more than enough to go around. Though Maynor (A House for Every Bird) plays it all for laughs, the story should spark conversations about scarcity mindset. Ages 4–7. Author’s agent: Minju Chang, BookStop Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

04/29/2022

PreS-Gr 2—In this funny glimpse of political losses and gains, Alice finds out what it's like to hold all the cards—especially when the cards are lollipops. She wins the school's raffle for a wagon full of lollipops, and the other kids want her to share; worried that there will not be enough to go around, they all begin angling for them. This causes Alice to wonder if the prize was worth winning. She decides to give the lollipops away and tells them to stand in a line if they want one. Some kids are grateful to get a lollipop while others aren't and some don't want a lollipop after all. In the end, the kids learn that the fighting and backbiting were unnecessary because there were, in fact, enough lollipops to go around. The illustrations are as bright as a candy shop, and when the speech bubbles begin to fill the page with entreaties, readers will feel Alice's pain. These colorful illustrations perfectly capture each scene and how Alice and her classmates feel. The scenes include a variety of hair textures, body types, and a wheelchair user. The humor is high, even though, ultimately, the stakes are low. VERDICT This cheerful picture book is an entertaining read and has only one agenda—fun.—Myiesha Speight

School Library Journal

★ 2021-11-16
A windfall of candy creates a philosophical dilemma for a kindhearted young girl.

When Alice wins the school raffle, she receives "a basket of lollipops so big, the principal pulled it onstage in a wagon.” She wants to share it with her classmates, but the elation of winning this sweet prize gives way to stress when it becomes clear that there may not be enough lollipops for everyone. Predictably, some students try to curry favor and sympathy with Alice, reminding her of their past acts of kindness toward her and regaling her with sob stories; "You're my only hope for candy till Halloween," one kid says mournfully. Other kids advise her to exclude certain students from her provision, claiming that the kindergarteners are too young to handle lollipops and suggesting that the new kids could be overlooked since Alice doesn’t know them very well. As the clamor grows, Alice has to make some hard decisions and learn that you can't please everyone. Luckily, the candy crisis works itself out so that there are more than enough sweets to go around…but what to do with the leftovers? Maynor's writing is flavored with wit and wrapped in moral subtleties. Player's retro-styled illustrations tie the hues of the lollipops to the children's colorful attire but never go overboard; there's plenty of drama around the crushing candy saga without overplaying the visuals. There is some racial diversity to Alice’s classmates, and one child uses a wheelchair. Alice reads as White.

Even for the anti-confectionary crowd, a believable, relatable story that avoids a saccharine conclusion. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews

"Maynor's writing is flavored with wit and wrapped in moral subtleties. Even for the anti-confectionary crowd, a believable, relatable story that avoids a saccharine conclusion."—Kirkus, starred review


"Though Maynor plays it all for laughs, the story should spark conversations about scarcity mindset."—Publishers Weekly

"In this funny glimpse of political losses and gains, Alice finds out what it’s like to hold all the cards—especially when the cards are lollipops. This cheerful picture book is an entertaining read and has only one agenda—fun."—School Library Journal

"Maynor’s humorous morality tale is accompanied by Player’s vibrant, rainbow-hued bubblegum-pop illustrations, with readers following Alice’s dilemma as she tries to remain fair but thoughtful and kind, as well. A unique story about decision-making and sharing that showcases the sweet and salty consequences of winning big."—Booklist

From the Publisher