Review by Booklist Review
Ages 5-8. This fourth book about the irresistible and irrepressible noodleheads is funny, very funny. In order to avoid a boring visit from Uncle Carbuncle, the clan sets off on a journey that is filled with one-liners and guest appearances. Some examples: a fish is thrown football-like across a restaurant table to "try the catch of the day," and Uncle Artichoke's high-diving board--over grass--is duly admired by the crowd. While the succinct prose and straight delivery of the duo's earlier works remain intact here, fine color reproduction has resulted in whimsical full-page cartoons that offer more than their usual share of vim and vibrancy. Young Buster's warning that "The Stupids are everywhere" provides a natural link to such traditional fool's tales as Paul Galdone's Three Sillies and Tony Ross' Lazy Jack. --Julie Corsaro
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Allard and Marshall are more than ever in tune with their Stupid characters. Using their plane, the loopy family take off on an early vacation to escape a visit from boring Uncle Carbuncle. Piloted by faithful feline Xylophone and accompanied by dogmatic hound Kitty, they drop in unannounced on sundry Stupid relations. Among those readers meet are Little Patty, who celebrates her sixth birthday with eight candles on her cake; Uncle Artichoke, who has an impressive diving board (no swimming pool) in his back yard; and Farmer Joe, whose pencil crop is not doing so well. Safely back home, the Stupids don their old-fashioned diving equipment and go to bed. This is in the same format as the other wonderful Stupid books: simple text on left-hand page, colorful cartoony illustration on the right. Recommended for all those who appreciate the deep belly laugh that bypasses all logical explanation. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-- Back in another adventure, the Stupid family now takes an unplanned trip in order to avoid a visit from the dreaded Uncle Carbuncle. On their day-long travels, they run into a series of other Stupid relatives, and finally return home. Few books delight young readers more than wonderfully silly offerings, such as Judith Barrett's Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (Atheneum, 1978) and Mercer Mayer's What Do You Do with a Kangaroo? (Scholastic, 1975), in which children's growing knowledge of the real world lets them in on the joke. Allard and Marshall have filled the pages of this book with lots of silliness and sight gags--but if a book is nothing but a series of bad puns and weak humor, it falls flat. Some readers might enjoy this latest of the Stupid adventures, but many will find it more like a collection of bad knock-knock jokes. While The Stupids Step Out (1974) and The Stupids Have a Ball (1978) had cohesive stories and wit, this entry resembles The Stupids Die (1981, all Houghton) in its lame attempt to entertain. There is more ``Yuck!'' than good yucks. --Virginia E. Jeschelnig, Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library, Willowick, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Fiction: PB The Stupids climb into their plane to visit all their nutty relatives so that Uncle Carbuncle will not be able to visit them. Marshall's illustrations are crazily wonderful, but the humor seems forced, and the puns are more excruciating than ever. Horn Rating: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration. Reviewed by: ert (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The fourth book about the Stupids takes them on an airborne tour of relatives as silly as they are. No real plot, of course, but a series of genuinely ludicrous verbal and visual jokes (Stanley brushes his teeth with anchovy paste, and the family cat hangs the breakfast on the line to dry) that are certain to make kids giggle. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
