Rowdy and infectious: Fetch tape and crayons.
With boundless energy and bouncing rhyme, a boy shows readers his handmade book—this book—about his burgeoning independence.
From making his own lunch and getting his own drink (milk spills down the page), to bathing in the sink and fixing toys with a lake of glue, this boy’s on a hilarious tear. Self-portraits race across the spreads, outlined in bold, black crayon. The boy’s head and ears evoke Charlie Brown. He’s always in motion, and every supply in the house seems to have been commandeered for this project. The multilayered, multimedia collage makes things look real enough to touch (and readers will try): pencils and Popsicle sticks, Legos and paper towels, circular confetti from a hole punch, construction paper and shiny paper and graph paper—and appearing most touchable of all, liberal amounts of cellophane tape, masking tape, duct tape and stickers. Bits of photo stand out amid the childlike art—the spray attachment on a faucet and the boy’s teeth while he’s brushing them (though not the rest of his face). “I can brush my own teeth. / I can pick out my clothes. // This sweater was perfect!!! / For wiping my nose.” A drop of snot (plenty big enough to be seen from a distance) and the underwear on his head will be popular.
Rowdy and infectious: Fetch tape and crayons. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-59643-675-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
Pedestrian.
Mr. Brown can’t help with farm chores because his shoes are missing—a common occurrence in his household and likely in many readers’ as well.
Children will be delighted that the titular Mr. Brown is in fact a child. After Mr. Brown looks in his closet and sorts through his other family members’ shoes with no luck, his father and his siblings help him search the farm. Eventually—after colorful pages that enable readers to spot footwear hiding—the family gives up on their hunt, and Mr. Brown asks to be carried around for the chores. He rides on his father’s shoulders as Papa gets his work done, as seen on a double-page spread of vignettes. The resolution is more of a lesson for the adult readers than for children, a saccharine moment where father and son express their joy that the missing shoes gave them the opportunity for togetherness—with advice for other parents to appreciate those fleeting moments themselves. Though the art is bright and cheerful, taking advantage of the setting, it occasionally is misaligned with the text (for example, the text states that Mr. Brown is wearing his favorite green shirt while the illustration is of a shirt with wide stripes of white and teal blue, which could confuse readers at the point where they’re trying to figure out which family member is Mr. Brown). The family is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Pedestrian. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5460-0389-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: WorthyKids/Ideals
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
Teachers looking for a new way to start off the school year will eat this one up.
In Murray’s children’s debut, when a gingerbread man made by schoolchildren gets left behind at recess, he decides he has to find his class: “I’ll run and I’ll run, / As fast as I can. / I can catch them! I’m their / Gingerbread Man!”
And so begins his rollicking rhyming adventure as he runs, limps, slides and skips his way through the school, guided on his way by the friendly teachers he meets. Flattened by a volleyball near the gym, he gets his broken toe fixed by the kindly nurse and then slides down the railing into the art teacher’s lunch. Then it’s off to the principal’s office, where he takes a spin in her chair before she arrives. “The children you mentioned just left you to cool. / They’re hanging these posters of you through the school.” The principal takes him back to the classroom, where the children all welcome him back. The book’s comic-book layout suits the elementary-school tour that this is, while Lowery’s cartoon artwork fits the folktale theme. Created with pencil, screen printing and digital color, the simple illustrations give preschoolers a taste of what school will be like. While the Gingerbread Man is wonderfully expressive, though, the rather cookie-cutter teachers could use a little more life.
Teachers looking for a new way to start off the school year will eat this one up. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25052-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
