This is a perfectly fine picture book from a very good children's author. Mac Barnett knows his craft, and 'Mustache!' delivers a clever lesson about vanity and leadership wrapped in absurdist humor that works for the preschool-to-early-elementary crowd.

It's not going to blow your mind—it's not 'Extra Yarn' or 'Sam & Dave Dig a Hole' (both Caldecott Honor winners)—but it's a solid library checkout or classroom read. The 4.3 Amazon rating and positive kid reviews on DogoBooks suggest it lands well with its target audience.

The message is useful without being heavy-handed: good looks don't make a good leader, and communities can organize when their leaders fail them. The mustache as a plot device is silly enough to keep kids engaged while the adults reading it won't want to gouge their eyes out.

Bottom line: A good book, not a great one. Worth reading if you stumble across it, but not necessarily worth hunting down unless you're collecting Barnett's entire catalog.