View source for A Deal's a Deal by Stephanie Blake

1877579831
{{infobox
|title=A Deal's a Deal
|sort=Deal's a Deal, A
|author=Stephanie Blake
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=For Sharing
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1877579837
|pages=32
|publisher=Gecko Press
|date=November 2013
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1877579831</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>1877579831</amazonus>
|website=
|video=
|summary=It's a little while coming, but the disgusting joke at the end will utterly satisfy your little monsters!
}}
There is always that stage, with children, where they always seem to want whatever someone else has got.  I think it lasts until they are, well, about thirty seven?!  Here we see the beginnings of envy with Simon, our little rabbit friend from [[Stupid Baby by Stephanie Blake|Stupid Baby]].  He's off to play with his friend Ferdinand, and he takes along three cars - a yellow car, a green car and a blue car.  But then, of course, Ferdinand has a red car...

Simon is, I'm happy to say, back dressed in his superhero costume.  We're not seeing much heroic behaviour here however.  He has car envy.  Ferdinand has a red car.  Simon doesn't have a red car.  And even though Simon knows that Ferdinand's car is just a plastic one and his are metal he somehow finds that what he really, really wants is this particular red car, and Ferdinand manipulates him into swapping all of his three cars for this one red car.  When the agreement is made Ferdinand declares ''A deal's a deal, to take back is to steal,'' and Simon repeats this back to him.

When Simon gets home with his new red car however his baby brother, Gaspard, is not impressed, declaring it to be 'yucky.'  It turns out that Gaspard is right as only moments later Simon has snapped the car in two.  He finds himself thinking of all the times Ferdinand has tricked him or lied to him or laughed at him.  Suddenly he has an idea of how he can get his own back on Ferdinand.  I won't spoil the conclusion but let's just say Ferdinand gets his comeuppance in a rather disgusting way!

Although I did find that the story played out a little slowly I do like these characters.  It was nice to see Gaspard, the little brother making an appearance, and Ferdinand and Simon do make me smile.  As before, Stephanie Blake's illustrations work well with the text - they're vibrant and funny, and the expressions on the rabbits' faces are brilliant.  I love the bright, sometimes garish colours she uses and the simplicity of her style.  And even though it's a while in coming, the ending is very funny and makes it worthwhile.  Well, I should probably point out that it's funny if you don't mind your humour a little grubby and gross.  If you're of a sensitive nature then you might want to sit down with a nice quiet princess story instead!  Otherwise snuggle down with anyone else you know who likes a yucky joke and enjoy Simon getting his own back on Ferdinand!

Stephanie's [[Stupid Baby by Stephanie Blake|earlier book]] is also funny and sweet and worth a read.

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