by Moe Zilla

Created on: October 04, 2010

"Mama made the bestest chili in the whole of Que Pasa - maybe the whole state of Texas ."

Every Tuesday night - chili night - even the coyotes and jackrabbits are lured to mama's ranch by the smell, and "folks moseyed in from nearly everywhere." It's a surprisingly long story, showing Mama driving into town for supplies, down the pothole-covered road, and then spotting a poster that promises a cash prize for a west Texas chili cook-off. She prepares a simmering kettle for the local fairgrounds, and this time the delicious smells drift up through "the hole in the ozone, and clean out into outer space." There's it's sniffed by "a lean, mean, green space machine," who immediately redirects his spaceship towards… Texas .

As soon as mama walks away from the chili pot, one of her children decides to add another ingredient - hot jalapeno. And then another child adds in extra-strength chili powder, while another pours in "a bottle of powerful Tabasco ." You can see where this is going - the chili ends up even hotter than usual - as the other children add fiery cayenne and even dried chili peppers. Then suddenly, the monster from outer space arrives, and starts guzzling down all the chili.

The book's jacket says that author Judy Cox plays bass in a band "when she's not inventing chili-slurping visitors from space and other outrageous story characters." She actually lives in Oregon , but she's spun up a decent Texas-sized tall tale that builds to a climax. John O'Brien illustrates the story with some appropriately simply colored sketches. They set a light, humors tone for the book, as though a funny legend is coming to life.

"Sizzz!" goes the chili as the green monster swallows down all of Mama's hot chili. "His green eyes bugged out and his horns popped… He quivered and he shivered and he quaked." But then the monster does something you wouldn't expect.  He smiles and licks his lips. Then he disappears back into the fairground.

The judges award mama a special prize - for showmanship.  (Presumably, they assumed it was part of her act to have the chili swallowed by a green monster from outer space.) And then the green monster from space returns, and gives her some of his homemade space chili. It's a sticky as tar, but the book still manages to find its way to a happy ending.

Mama takes the alien's kettle of green space chili, and uses it to fill up all the road's potholes!

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