Review by Booklist Review
K^-Gr. 3. Rumpus Ridge, Wisconsin, is a hardscrabble mining town with only one claim to fame: it is home to the biggest ball of string in the world, collected by generations of local youngsters. Imagine the civic consternation, then, one fateful spring night when a flood carries the string away, depositing it downriver on the shores of a rival village, Cornwall, whose unscrupulous residents decide to keep it as their own. Oh, the horror! The Rumpus Ridge kids vow to win it back, and they set about devising a strategy so intricate it puts Rube Goldberg to shame. Geisert's fans will already have discovered several things: first, the plucky youngsters are not people but pigs; and second, the pictures that portray the derring-do are marvelously executed etchings. The art ranges in size from intricate miniatures that clearly portray the piglets' inspired strategy in evolution, to double-page spreads that capture, to equally good effect, the look, lay, and sweep of the landscape. An absolutely sui generis talent, Geisert excels at drawing mechanical contrivances and contraptions while also creating the most appealing pigs since the late Kurt Wiese created beloved Freddy. And there can be no higher praise than that! --Michael Cart
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
As in his Nursery Crimes, Geisert once again zeroes in on a small Midwestern town inhabited by a group of pigs to tell an offbeat tale of how cooperation and resourcefulness can overcome deceit. Accompanied by hilariously deadpan etchings, the narrative follows a group of young pigs who use ropes, pulleys, a magnifying glass and some dynamite to reclaim their town's pride and joy, the titular ball of string. Bursting from the public gazebo in which it is housed in Rumpus Ridge, Wis., the string has been collected by generations of the town's youngsters. When it washes downriver in a flood one day, the pigs in the next town seize their chance. An aerial view shows Cornwall's town square, with its brick storefronts and miners' shacks, all laced with fine, spiderweb-like lines: the townsfolk have to dry out the string before they can display it. Half the fun lies in the poker-face text ("At noon, the Cornwallians were going to dedicate their ill-gotten ball of string"); the other half lies in the detailed illustrations of the Rumpus Ridge piglets as they build a sluice and water wheel and "[fashion] a windmill" to regain their prized possession. Any reader who has ever tried to rig up a bucket of water over a doorway will revel in Geisert's tongue-in-cheek delivery as well as the good guys' ingenuity and sweet revenge. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-This decidedly unusual picture book has an old-fashioned feel. The illustrations look almost like etchings or engravings, while the small-town setting showcases scenes of a simpler time. Geisert's quirky story focuses on the opportunistic theft of Rumpus Ridge, Wisconsin's claim to fame-a giant ball of string housed in a downtown gazebo, and the clever efforts of that community's children to retrieve their treasure from the Cornwallians, when it washes downstream in a flood. The story flows well, with a certain inevitability, though the vocabulary can be challenging at times. Geisert uses a mixture of full spreads and smaller vignettes to illustrate his tale. These pictures both illuminate the actions described and give careful observers a preview of upcoming events. At times, however, the details are rather small and difficult to discern. The events described are (obviously intentionally) quite peculiar and Geisert's sense of humor is extremely dry. While fans of Edward Gorey's offbeat tales might enjoy this absurd adventure, it's unlikely that a great many young children will be drawn to this low-key saga of string lost and found.-Lisa Dennis, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA (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
After a flood carries their town's colossal ball of string downriver to Cornwall, the young pig citizens of Rumpus Ridge come up with an ingenious way to retrieve it from the Cornwallians, who intend to keep it for themselves. Geisert accompanies his matter-of-fact narrative with meticulous, delicately colored illustrations that show the pigs' complex, preposterous scheme in amusing detail. From HORN BOOK Spring 2003, (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
Praise be to those who see the joys of inspired silliness, for they shall delight the masses. Geisert, whose detailed townscapes executed with his wife Bonnie (Desert Town, 2001, etc.) both please and teach, here takes a solo journey to Rumpus Ridge, Wisconsin. It's a small mining town (the inhabitants, by the way, are anthropomorphic pigs) where children have created a giant ball of string, a local attraction that is displayed in a gazebo near the river. When a rainstorm sends the ball of string to the nearby town of Cornwall and Cornwall decides to keep it, a plot ensues. The young folk of Rumpus Ridge do not take this lightly, and they boat to Cornwall with a wildly elaborate waterworks and construction plan for getting their artifact back. Geisert's clear, deadpan prose and carefully detailed illustrations include tunnels, a windmill, subterfuge, and even explosions. A distant but affectionate cousin to John Vernon Lord's venerable Giant Jam Sandwich (1975). (Picture book. 3-8)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
