The Candy Conspiracy: A Tale of Sweet Victory

K-Gr 2—"Have you heard of Candyville?" this book asks and tells a tale of a place with powdered sugar snow and root beer rivers. Candyville was once ruled by a selfish Jabba the Hutt-like creature named Juicy Jelly Worm, who forced the children to work the land and never shared his tasty treats. Eventually, the kids overthrow him by tricking him into thinking that vegetables are better than candy, and he signs over Candyville in a contractual trade for a garden. This book has a bit of a sardonic tone, with small warnings hidden in the illustrations. The images of the jelly worm are bright and fuzzy, while the children look a little like those from a 1950s Golden book, and the background of each page is lacking. The target audience is a little hard to place, because the somewhat sarcastic tone would make a decent read-aloud for a primary grade class, but the visuals are not sophisticated enough for that age group. In the end, "everyone lived juicily jellily everly afterly."