I Want to Eat My Brother

It's dinnertime at Oskar's house, and his parents have lots of luscious suggestions: chicken skewers? A peanut stew? Maybe he'd like a shrimp ragout?

But Oskar would prefer something off the menu -- he wants to eat his brother!

With lush illustrations from Simone Rea, Hélène Gaudy's tale is a charming read-aloud packed to the gills with wordplay that's perfect for bedtime.

"An extremely silly book that is reminiscent of Maurice Sendak, from the muted illustrations to the subject matter! Oskar is a picky eater, but there's no way he could be so picky that he'd only want to eat his brother...right? Young readers will laugh in delight and some will commiserate with Oskar's lack of interest in food, but all will love the rollicking rhyme and the absurdity of the premise!" -- Tildy Lutts, Belmont Books

Author: Hélène Gaudy
Publisher: Levine Querido
Published: 10/07/2025
Pages: 40
Binding Type: Hardcover
Size: 8.50h x 12.00w x 0.38d
ISBN: 9781646145706
Audience: Ages 4-8


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 07/21/2025
Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2025

About the Author
Hélène Gaudy was born in Paris in 1979. She has written five novels (including Un monde sans rivages, selected for the 2019 Goncourt Prize, and Archipels, finalist for the 2024 Goncourt Prize), and several children's books. With Éditions Cambourakis, she published Mon tout petit pays (2016) with Anne Beauchard, Minuit le chat du bois perdu (2019) with Elenia Beretta, and Je veux enlever la nuit (2015) and Je veux manger mon frère (2023) with Simone Rea.

Simone Rea was born in 1975 in Albano Laziale, Italy, where he lives and works. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, specializing in illustration. He has taken part in various exhibitions and competitions in Italy and abroad. His illustrations of Aesop's Fables (Actes Sud, 2012) received great praise among French critics.

Julia Grawemeyer is a translator, writer, and educator whose work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Florida Review Online, and with Farrar, Straus, and Giroux and Schaffner Press. She is a faculty member of the Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop and is a French and ELL educator. She is a recipient of a translation grant from France's Centre National du Livre and was a part of the PEN American Women in Translation Month Reading Series in 2022. She lives in Montréal and Ohio.