Damage Noted

One hot summer in Itching Down,
Four million wasps flew into town.

So begins The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord, first published in 1972. After a village is besieged by wasps, Bap the Baker comes up with the idea to lure them with a giant jam sandwich and trap them inside.

I’d completely forgotten this book existed, even though it was one of my favorites as a child, courtesy of the Weekly Reader Book Club. A few days ago a copy came across my desk at work and I immediately snatched it up. As I started reading, I was floored to realize that many of the images had been in the back of my mind for decades: The enormous loaf of bread baked by “fifty cookers in an old brick mill,” butter and jam being spread by a tractor, helicopters dropping the top slice—kersplat!—and trapping the wasps inside.

Discovering this book again was pure joy.