Review by Booklist Review
It's a typical night for Tony: his mom demands he do his homework, but instead he just reads comic books in bed until he konks out. Only this night, that empty piece of notebook paper is too inviting, and Tony's pencil and eraser come alive to write a story for him. Being by their very nature opposites, the two anthropomorphous objects immediately butt heads. Stinkeroo! cries the eraser at the pencil's opening line. Their fight wakes up the entire desk cup, book, tape dispenser, ruler, and so on but it is the fountain pen whose out-of-control splotches provide the vision. Soon pencil is scribbling away at The Story of Planet Splotch. Yorinks has devised a pleasing homage to the creative process and uses a light touch to show how inspiration can derive from the unlikeliest of places. Egielski's art has an intriguing lack of depth; the details are piled atop one another like a jumble that needs decoding. A simple but amusing winner.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-As usual, Tony is not doing his homework. Instead, he dozes off while reading a comic book. While he sleeps, the pencil, pens, etc., on his desk come to life and decide to write a story for him. There is much banter and arguing as each one is critical of the other's contributions, but gradually everyone's efforts are melded into a final product. Their exuberance awakens Tony, who discovers the story, but seeing only splotches and messy corrections, tosses it away-only to sit down and compose one with an identical theme. The plotline is amusing as the characters interact, but it's Egielski's retro-style illustrations that steal the show. Using brightly hued watercolors and pen, the artist brings the items on Tony's desktop to life one by one. He then reverses the process as Tony awakens and the items go back to their inanimate state. The pictures are rich in detail and energy, and children will return to the story many times to enjoy them.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ (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
(Primary) Tony, having fallen asleep on his bed in lieu of obeying his mother's command to do his homework, doesn't realize his good fortune. While he snoozes beneath his comic book, his school supplies have decided to tackle his creative writing assignment for him. The one problem, as Yorinks shows through funny, spirited dialogue, is the preponderance of desk-top know-it-alls. "Are you kidding? That is the worst beginning I've ever heard," crabs the ballpoint pen when the eraser tries to edit the pencil's "Once upon a time" into "A long time ago." Depicted in Egielski's ink and watercolor cartoons with expressive spindly limbs and wide oval eyes, each argumentative artiste displays a personality befitting of its function. The fountain pen -- no laptop here, this bunch is strictly low-tech -- is proud that his ink marks are "permanent," so proud that he impulsively splats purple all over the page. Yet this initially dismal turn of events leads to a creative epiphany for the pencil, who, inspired by the fountain pen's "illustrations," comes up with a story about a planet of man-eating splotches. The other school supplies give "The Story of Planet Splotch" rave reviews, but perhaps its finest moment is when Tony -- of course his desk is quiet, orderly, and unanimated when he awakes -- crumples it into a ball, throws it away, and begins a story of his own. From HORN BOOK, (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
Tony's homework routine consists of reading a comic book and falling asleep, and tonight's like any otheralmost. "As Tony slept, his favorite #1 pencil decided to do Tony's homework," and once the pencil starts, all the other writing implements join in, with decidedly chaotic results when the fountain pen gets overexcited. As metafiction goes, this effort comes off as more contrived than clever. While kids will enjoy the squabbling of the pencil, pens and eraser, none of the characters is fully developed (and how many kids these days will recognize a fountain pen?), and the resolution, while satisfying enough (Tony gets a B), doesn't flow naturally from the setup. Tony wrote another draft; too bad his creators didn't do the same. (Picture book. 6-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
