Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The narrator of this mischief-laden story is willing to imagine he's anything-as long as it's not well-behaved or human. To the delight of his peers and the consternation of adults, he's a sluggish hippo when the alarm rings, an uncoordinated robot at breakfast ("robots can't eat cornflakes./ Dad's words did not compute"), a statue when he needs to get out the door, a monkey in the classroom, a rocket ship on the way home, and a destructive giant in his room ("that's just how giants play./ We're big and loud and noisy./ We don't know another way"). But when the boy pushes his parents over the edge, he sees the wisdom of pretending to be "a nice thing" (himself) that they can cuddle and fuss over. MacRae's (Baby Pie) verse gets a good boost from Collins (Doodleday), who manages the boy's transformations and accompanying chaos in sprawling, detailed watercolor cartoons that evince a firm but funny hand. Readers should especially appreciate how this competent, confident hero remains in control of his destiny and lives to pretend another day. Ages 4-9. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Horn Book Review
Imaginative rhymed text and energetic mixed-media illustrations depict a day in the life of a boy who changes into whatever creature or thing best represents his mood: a lazy hippo who won't get out of bed; a monkey who's cheeky at school. The tables are turned when his parents make a transformation of their own: dragons. Satisfying silliness. Copyright 2010 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Collins' artwork serves as an immediate draw to this rambunctious tale of a comically shape-shifting young boy.Energetic illustrations, laden with emotional expressiveness, chronicle the various creatures and things into which the boy morphs, reflecting his changing moods throughout a day. He wakens as a rhinoceros, because, as everybody knows, rhinos don't like to get out of bed. Once up, he changes into a robot, because robots don't particularly like breakfast. At school, he is a monkey before becoming a monster, and so on from there. MacRae's rhymed text is a happy, singsong affair with a few challenging atonal moments that will get readers thinking about meter in poetry. There is a good deal of "telling off" in the talewhich evidently is an expression less vibrant in England, where MacRae lives, than in the United States, where something like "I couldn't sit and listen, / and my work was rather slack. / And when the teacher told me off / I told her off right back!" might be thought a little cheeky for even a monkey. But the boy becomes milquetoast upon a change of form in his parentshere there be dragonsshape-shifting himself into a kid, and a sweet one at that.A sweet, if literal exploration of changing moods, it will likely have readers imagining their own transformations. (Picture book. 4-9)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
