Never Insult a Killer Zucchini!

This book follows Mr. Farnsworth, a science fair judge, as he makes his way through students' exhibits alphabetically. Students show off exhibits such as Antimatter, Bionic Limb, and Cloning, which prove to be rather dangerous but very funny! Mr. Farnsworth, however, makes the mistake of stating that he enjoys eating zucchini with ranch dressing and The Killer Zucchini attempts to seek revenge using other students' projects. 

Although this is both an alphabet and picture book, I can imagine using this in upper elementary classrooms in my own teaching. The book itself doubles as an informational text, including real-life explanations and examples of scientific terms used in the book. This would be a great resource to ignite inspiration before a science fair my own class may be participating, or it could act as a writing tool and encourage students to dream up their own exhibit using vivid descriptions. 

Another aspect of this book that I truly appreciate is that it follows a story. The Killer Zucchini likes Mr. Farnsworth at first because he does not realize that when he declares he loves zucchinis, he means he wants to eat them! The illustrations throughout the book convey Killer Zucchini's feelings and follow a storyline. Therefore, I could also see myself talking to some students about the beginning, middle, and end of a story. 

Overall, I believe that this is a great book to introduce in order to integrate science and literacy. Writing is another subject that could easily be incorporated, so this book can help a teacher accomplish a lot! 














Never Insult a Killer Zucchini! 
By: Elana Azose & Brandon Amancio 
Illustrated by: David Clark 
Published in 2016