The Worst Breakfast

By China Miéville and Zak Smith

“Miéville, known for his genre-defying fantasy novels for adults, makes a splash with his picture book debut . . . a subversive delight.” —School Library Journal

Two sisters sit down one morning and begin describing all of the really gross things that were in the worst breakfast they ever had, until all they can picture is a table piled sky-high with the weirdest, yuckiest, slimiest, slickest, stinkiest breakfast possible. And then they have the best breakfast ever . . . almost.

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2016

A Mississippi Clarion-Ledger Bestseller

“This is a child’s imagination come to life, where a good thing can be the greatest thing in existence and a minor inconvenience snowballs into the most horrendous, atrocious, appalling, not good, very bad meal you’ve ever had.” —San Francisco Book Review

“Miéville and Smith’s dialogue is fantastic: witty, smart, with great rhythm that doesn’t sacrifice artful turns of phrase to reach for an internal rhyme . . . A brilliant, original, infinitely rereadable book that can sit alongside Sendak and Dahl.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Miéville lets it rip in this stomping, howling rant about a bad meal of legendary proportions.” —Publishers Weekly

“Imaginative and fun, The Worst Breakfast is perfect for any picky eater out there. A rhyming scheme and inventive text kept up the giggles and the pace.” —100 Pages a Day

“Deftly written by the exceptionally talented China Miéville and shockingly but gifted illustrated by Zak Smith, The Worst Breakfast is a unique picture book that will be enduringly popular . . . Very highly recommended.” —Midwest Book Review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Akashic Books
• Release date: Oct 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781617755170

China Miéville

China Miéville lives and works in London. He is three-time winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award and has also won the British Fantasy Award twice. The City & The City, an existential thriller, was published to dazzling critical acclaim and drew comparison with the works of Kafka and Orwell and Philip K. Dick. His novel Embassytown was a first and widely praised foray into science fiction.

Book preview

Reviews for The Worst Breakfast

[justreign · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The Worst Breakfast, written by China Mieville and illustrated by Zak Smith, is a tale of two sisters recalling the worst breakfast they ever had. The story is charming, and I adore the way Mieville uses his words. Though I don't have any children to read this to, I think it would be fun to read aloud. This book is also a great way to introduce children to a wider vocabulary. Unfortunately, I felt like the illustrations were ill suited for the story. While it does the job of making the food look really unappetizing, I found it distracting from the story because some of the pictures had me trying to figure out what I was looking at. I actually probably would have preferred the text on blank pages so I could just use my imagination to conjure up the images of the food the sisters were describing.The quality of the printing was wonderful though. I love it when picture books don't come with one of those flimsy paper book covers, they always end up so thrashed.

[jugglingpaynes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In "The Worst Breakfast" by China Mieville and Zak Smith, a girl tries to help her little sister remember their worst breakfast as the illustrations show how bad it was. Ultimately, the two decide that today's breakfast is almost as bad, and they figure out a way to fix the problem and turn it into something pretty good.The story is imaginative and something I can picture a child describing. The pictures are colorful, but sometimes cluttered and difficult to decipher, perhaps to give a sense of how bad the breakfast was. It's a cute picture book, but maybe not the best. Pretty good. :)

[mishker-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Two sisters sit down for breakfast; big sis realizes that something is amiss. This breakfast reminds her of the worst breakfast ever. Little sis, however, doesn’t quite remember, so big sis tells her in vivid detail of burnt toast, slimy vegetables, too hot tea, far too much honey and worst of all-juice with bits. As little sis joins in the worst breakfast ever gets ooeier, gooier and grosser until there is a huge mess of made-up worst breakfast ever.Imaginative and fun, The Worst Breakfast is perfect for any picky eater out there. A rhyming scheme and inventive text kept up the giggles and the pace. The text is best read aloud going along with all of the suggestions, with emphasis placed on capitalized words and pauses between syllables when they are spaced out. The illustrations are very different than what you typically see in children’s books; they are bright and fun, but edgier and begged to be looked at deeper. You can spend time on each page trying to find each food and a series of silly little monsters. I do wish that the one page that is just filled with text was spaced out a bit and had pictures to it, as it was difficult for me to get through with the pace that it deserved and all the foods listed there would have made an awesome illustration. Overall, an inventive and lighthearted children’s book, best for ages 5-8. Oh, and I definitely agree that juice with pulp is awful.This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

[jesslibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My family exaggerates and we’re packed with picky eaters (yes, I’m one). So this picture book featuring a pair of sisters remembering the worst breakfast they’ve ever had because something is amiss with their current one, was a fun and funny and in a way very familiar. It has with rhymes along with large and funny words—how often is vegemite discussed in children’s picture books—creating an unappetizing but funny mess. Zak Smith’s art is fabulous inserting strange and interesting creatures hanging out in the breakfast foods and as the older sister’s story gains speed and new levels of gross, the illustrations becomes wilder and more packed with detail. Adult fans of both will love this but it certainly works for children too. It reminded me of Shel Silverstein’s “Sarah Cynthia Syliva Stout…” and Maurice Sendak.

[robenc-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hooray! China Miéville wrote a picture book! And what a book it is! As one sister says, "I'm worried, little sis! something's amiss." And that thing amiss is, of course, breakfast - which might possibly be as bad as the WORST breakfast ever - burned toast, underdone eggs, slimy sausages, tough bacon, gummy porridge, baked beans, tomatoes... What? You don't eat baked beans and tomatoes with YOUR breakfast? Yes - this is decidedly breakfast from a UK perspective. But the author acknowledges that fact. The illustrations will have you revisiting pages to see what you have missed. Is that a pterodactyl hatching from the eggs? A shoe in the middle of the beans? If you like Gaiman, Dahl, or Gorey you should give this a try.I am anxious to try this one out as a read-aloud! I received this as an Advanced Copy from Library Thing via Katie Martinez at Akashic Books. Thank you!

[sylliu_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Worst Breakfast is so much fun. From the mind who brought us dark, scary, futuristic dystopias (like Perdido Station), comes a really fun read aloud picture book. Two sisters reminisce about the worst breakfast ever, although one of them has a hard time remembering all the awful details. Mieville's story lilts and rhymes and plays with words, and one masterful page of horrible eats is a treat to read, but will send many to the dictionary (or Google).

[mamzel_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Easy rhyming older sister reminiscing about a terrible breakfast they once had while it doesn't ring a bell with the younger sister. All senses are shared - sight, sound, smell, touch, and, of course, taste. There was an interesting bit about how Americans and English pronounce tomato differently which would affect the rhyme. Which brings me to my only concern - American children would not understand many of the very English breakfast offerings (Marmite and Vegemite, for example). When older girl recalled the pulpy orange juice, the younger girl finally remembered the horrible breakfast.Dramatic illustrations add to the fun.

[klarsenmd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book as part of the LT early reviewer program. This is a wonderfully illustrated children's book that somehow reminds me of my favorite Shel Silverstein poems in expanded vivid color. Two sister sit down to breakfast and try to recall the most horrible breakfast they have had. The illustrations are bright and colorful, but occasionally hard to make out. I had my kids read it as well and they enjoyed the prose more than the pictures.

[kyurenka · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Two sisters are reminiscing about the worst breakfast they ever had. The older sister remembers the smoke, no joke, the eggs, no fun, severely underdone. The illustrations of the burning eggs, ruined porridge are garishly perfect as is the rhyming banter between the sisters. A unique, funny book that should please many.

[g33kgrrl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have been a big Mieville fan for over a decade, and I have a 6 week old daughter, so I was very excited to get this book. I enjoyed reading it but think it will reward reading slower than I had time for, and with more time to really look at the art - it's quite interesting and even a bit abstract. I can't wait to read it aloud to my daughter some day.

[5eva5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Two sisters discuss the worst breakfast they've ever had - and it's was a really bad one indeed. I know that one of Miéville's goals is to write a book in each genre, so I've been waiting for this, his foray into children's literature. It started off like any other book, but very soon Miéville's penchant for playing with language comes into play and things get a lot of fun. I'm not sure that the art is styled for children, but I had a lot of fun looking for the various monsters that show up in the sisters' kitchen. Miéville is quite an accomplished artist in his own right, so while I understand he had fun teaming up with someone else, I would have adored this had he done the illustrations himself.