For Young Aspiring Writings

From the wild and wonderful imagination of the author Adam Rubin comes this hilarious, irresistible middle-grade debut, a collection of six totally different stories with the same exact name.

 

Adam Rubin starts the book by talking about the magic of writing. This is where we, as the reader, get our first taste of his zany personality and childish sense of humor that is present in his writing style. As a writer myself, I admired everything he said.

 

Adam Rubin mentions that he hopes this book might encourage aspiring young writers to create their own versions of “The Ice Cream Machine.” He even includes his mailing address so kids can send him their stories. If I had read this book as a kid, I might have considered creating my own “The Ice Cream Machine” story. But I probably would have drawn out the story instead of writing it. Now, as an adult author, I am almost tempted to write and illustrate my own “The Ice Cream Machine” story using my original characters, Maddie and Albert. I probably won’t because I’m working on so many projects that I don’t have time. I’ll have to think about it.

 

Anyway, I will review all six short stories, giving each story a 1 out of 5 ice cream scoop rating.

 

The Ice Cream Machine (the one with the five-armed robot)

A young boy, Shiro, and his robot nanny, Kelly, travel the globe in search of the world’s tastiest treat.

An outrageous adventure set in a futuristic world, Shiro and Kelly are an awesome duo. This one is hilarious, and I really enjoyed it.

5 out of 5 Ice Cream Scoops

 

The Ice Cream Machine (the one with the ice cream eating contest)

A young girl, Penelope, and her little sister, Pam, compete in an ice cream eating contest against an honest-to-goodness pig.

Set in a town of anthropomorphic animals, Penelope and her little sister Pam are the only two humans in town. Stories about anthropomorphic animals aren’t original, but they are always amusing.

My favorite part of the story was the menagerie of animals doing different activities. Here are a few of my favorites:

Sunbathing sheep (freshly shorn), an iguana in a Hawaiian shirt, and a seal with a sunburn.

Also, I want a Fudgy-Plop, like in the story! It’s part ice cream, part whipped cream, all fudge! It sounds delicious.

5 out of 5 Ice Cream Scoops

 

The Ice Cream Machine (the one with the genius inventor)

Rhonda, a young mechanical prodigy, invents a machine to create the freshest ice cream ever.

I loved all the inventions Rhonda created.

My favorite characters were the three cows: Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup (I think Adam Rubin named them after the PowerPuff Girls).

5 out of 5 Ice Cream Scoops

 

The Ice Cream Machine (the one with the evil ice cream man)

Three friends go up against Cromulous, an evil ice cream truck driver who strikes fear in the heart of every kid in town.

I don’t like stories about overly mean people. I did like how the kids worked together to deliver ice cream to the neighbor kids and take down Cromulous.

4 out of 5 Ice Cream Scoops

 

The Ice Cream Machine (the one with the sorcerer’s assistant)

Martin, the sorcerer’s assistant, must conjure icy cream out of thin air for the king or else.

A medieval setting with characters using modern terms, like ‘bro’ and ‘awesome.’

4 out of 5 Ice Cream Scoops

 

The Ice Cream Machine (the one with the alien space lab)

Phil, the human, is abducted from Earth and questioned in a giant alien space lab.

A sci-fi version of the classic ‘be careful what you wish for’ story. I loved the space lab premise, but I didn’t enjoy the direction the story went.

3 out of 5 Ice Cream Scoops

 

Overall, each story has its own appeal, but I personally enjoyed Stories #1, #2, and #3 the most. I cracked up laughing at least once for each story. I recommend giving this book a try. Odds are you’ll find at least one of the stories to your liking.