Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Lichtenheld?s (What Are You So Grumpy About?) rhyming story opens with a parental rant against a messy room (for seven spreads), and continues with a child?s passionate defense of the same. In the opening spread, a mother towers over a spectacled boy bellowing: ?Look at this room,/ it?s in such distress,/ you?d have to clean up/ just to call it a mess.? Each ensuing full-bleed spread shows an increasingly chaotic scene. Lichtenheld?s illustrations abound with humorous touches likely to appeal to young readers: a mouse munches from the remnants of a lunch plate, dirty underwear spins on the ceiling fan, an under-the-bed monster lies dead from eating the boy?s socks. When the parents demand the boy clean up, he protests: ?Mom, Dad,/ you don?t understand./ It?s not random filth,/ everything?s planned!? Insisting that his studies require the mess, he goes on to explain his long-term science experiments, which include bug family observations, centrifugal force and paleontology: ?Those clothes aren?t heaped up just because I?m a pig,/ I?m actually creating an archaeological dig? (an illustration labels layers of clothing as Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade etc. on which the boy rests leisurely while his parents, dressed as archeologists, dig through the debris). The final experiment he exhibits causes an explosion so severe that the room?s entire contents, including the family, end up outside in the yard (the boy finally agrees to ?make an experiment of cleaning my room!?). The rhymes may not be memorable, but youngsters will likely find many of the grossout details amusing. All ages. (Sept.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-"What's with this room?" ask the parents of a bespectacled, sheepish-looking little boy in this silly romp through the messiest mess since The Cat in the Hat came to visit. The parents go on to list the room's many disgusting features, including both the predictable (yesterday's lunch, a pair of underpants hanging from the fan) and the absurd (a closet full of local wildlife, including some alleged "gnu poo"). They demand an explanation. The inventive child claims that everything serves a unique educational purpose: "That isn't just vermin down under the rugs,/I'm studying a family of misbehaved bugs." The high gross factor, combined with the clever humor, will keep most children in rapt attention. A few of the jokes are too sophisticated for the audience, but they will give perceptive adults a chuckle. The brightly hued, mixed-media cartoon art is fanciful and filled with nasty details that children will enjoy pointing out. The only problem with the book is that the rhymed couplets are sometimes clunky and overloaded with syllables, but this is a minor quibble. When you read it aloud, possibly paired with Rosemary Wells's Max Cleans Up (Viking, 2000), the kids will be too busy laughing to notice.-Rachael Vilmar, Atlanta Fulton Public Library, GA (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 boy's parents hammer him about his beyond-messy room (""Your stinky old running shoes / got up and ran, / outstunk by your underwear / hung from the fan""), he defends himself (""my underwear flung on the fan is, of course, / just a method to study centrifugal force""). The mixed-media visual mayhem showcases some downright Seuss-caliber rhymes. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
