Brian Taylor’s Peanut Butter’s Problem is a playful children’s book about a jar of peanut butter who can’t understand why the kind woodcutter he lives with keeps passing him over. Feeling unwanted, Peanut Butter turns to the other foods in the refrigerator for advice, hoping to discover a sweet food that will make him more appealing. Ketchup, Lemon, and Butter each try to help, while Hot Sauce responds harshly. The story uses rhyme and plenty of casual dialogue to give the refrigerator characters distinct personalities and keep the plot moving at a lively pace.

What gives the story some emotional weight is Peanut Butter’s search for a place where he belongs. He goes from feeling like “a nobody” to becoming hopeful when Butter suggests honey, only to learn that the woodcutter is allergic to it. His disappointment is met with encouragement from his friends, who promise that there’s another sweet food out there for him. That turns a funny story about talking condiments into one about friendship, persistence, and the effect kindness can have when someone is discouraged. The relaxed language, with characters calling each other “dude” and “bro,” also makes their conversations sound like friendly banter children can easily follow.

Peanut Butter, Ketchup, Lemon, Butter, and Hot Sauce have expressive faces that make their moods immediately clear, from Peanut Butter’s teary frustration to his friends’ excitement when grape jelly finally arrives. Many spreads alternate between text presented against the inside of the refrigerator and colorful full-page scenes, so the refrigerator itself becomes almost like a little neighborhood where the characters live. The pictures also carry some of the humor, such as Peanut Butter crashing into the newly arrived jelly jar and his friends literally jumping for joy afterward. That visual storytelling helps younger readers understand the emotions even when they aren’t reading every word themselves.

The arrival of Sadie O’Grady brings the different parts of the story together in a satisfying way. Her care package helps the sick woodcutter, introduces the grape jelly Peanut Butter has been searching for, and leads to a dinner party where food and friendship are shared with everyone. The final moments also return to the story’s message about kindness when the other foods confront Hot Sauce and he admits that he was mean. Peanut Butter’s Problem has the cheerful silliness of a talking-food adventure, but underneath that is a warm story about finding companionship, accepting help, treating others well, and discovering that sometimes the right match arrives when you least expect it.

Pages: 60 | ASIN: B0FBRBW6R8