Review by Booklist Review
A yard full of anthropomorphized tools organizes itself into action in order to build a shed they can call home. Each of the members of this smiling menagerie performs its job according to plan drafting, measuring, cutting, assembling, and demonstrating good spirit and admirable teamwork in the process. Meshon (Take Me Out to the Yakyu, 2013) draws the action in flat, blocky simplicity, with heavy outlines and only the occasional shadow. His cartoony characters have a familiar, kawaii sweetness, with big, wide-set eyes and broad smiles, matched in their punny word-balloon dialogue (What a mess! / Calling all tools . . . / to the workbench / one and all. Awl, that / means you too!). And the especially vivid palette, with a remarkable range of saturated colors and rich, dense backgrounds, adds to the good-natured ebullience. This friendly, informative outing will appeal to budding builders with an interest in colorful construction.--Barthelmess, Thom Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The backyard looks somebody opened up a toolbox and spread the contents hither and thither. There's work to be done, and the tools themselves are just the can-do objects for the job-every one of them has a ready smile and eager eyes. After treating readers to a smattering of tool puns ("Vise, we're all scattered. What should we do?" "My advice, Let's get a grip on things."), Meshon (Take Me Out to the Yakyu) puts his cheery toylike crew to work building a tool shed. The bright cartoon spreads are filled with an epic cast of very cute characters, but by using arrows emblazoned with text to emphasize key actions ("Saw saws Wood"), Meshon makes the project easy to follow. With plenty of deeply satisfying onomatopoeia ("Vrip! Vrip! Vrip!" is the sound of the saw) and tool jokes (What sound does a nail make when it's being hammered in? "Ok! Ouch! Ok! Ok! Ouch!"), the story should be deemed a job well done by preschool or kindergarten DIYers. Ages 4-8. Agent: Ruben Pfeffer, East West Literary Agency. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-A yard full of amiable tools comes together to build a toolshed. Meshon's illustrations are bright, bold, and emblazoned with smiling faces. Even the tiniest eraser on a pencil has a cute cartoon face. The large, clear font will make this clever title an appropriate choice for beginning readers and will challenge older readers to move beyond the basics (saw, hammer, nails) and learn about more advanced tools, such as an awl and a T square. To complement the anthropomorphic tools, the text includes onomatopoeia sound effects: "Saw saws Wood. 'Vrip! Vrip! Vrip!' Drill drills Screws. 'Zip! Zip! Zip!'" With this lively text and positive message about the benefits of teamwork, Tools Rule! will please readers with an interest in how things work and provide an opportunity to spur engaging audience participation while reading aloud. This book could provide an excellent jumping-off point to engage students in further informational reading about tools or building structures.-Nora Clancy, Teachers College Community School, New York City (c) Copyright 2014. 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
"Okay, crew!!! Who's ready to build?" A diligent T-square rallies its fellow tools to get to work building a shed so they will all have a place to rest their heads. It turns out that organizing tools is like herding cats: the tools are lying in a mess all over the yard, and they're not supermotivated to move. Once they finally come to order, though, each one does what it does best, and the shed is constructed lickety-split -- just in time for a hard-earned good night's sleep. Meshon's lively text is packed full of tool-centric wordplay ("Let's stick together!" says Tape; "I saw Saw just a minute ago," Work Bench reports), sound effects ("Vrip! Vrip! Vrip! Zip! Zip! Zip!"), and occasional rhyme (plus a minor inconsistency or two: how do they lift the too-heavy-to-move workbench to pour the concrete?). The illustrations, too, have a lot going on. Some are double-page spreads; some are single pages with borders; some bleed off the edges. One helpful spread shows the tools, still strewn about the lawn, but with captionlike arrows to identify what's what; not exactly a sea of calm in this freewheeling story, but useful nonetheless. A detailed note on the copyright page describes Meshon's process for creating his digitally colored mixed-media illustrations showing smiley tools with a can-do attitude. elissa gershowitz (c) Copyright 2014. 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
Are there any tots who don't like to play with toy tools? Most likely not, and this appealing and inventive story features animated tool characters, each with its own individual traits. T Square rounds up a crew of tools to clean up a messy yard and build a tool shed. T Square and Pencil draft plans; Wheelbarrow gathers materials; Saw saws Wood; Drill drills Screws; Level inspects; Glue glues on Roof Tiles, etc. Together, they work hard, and when the project is finished, they go to sleep in an organized toolshed feeling satisfied. The colored digital illustrations are imaginative (each tool has eyes, and some have legs), with sound effects offering opportunities for participation: "Brush brushes Paint. SWISH! SWASH! SLOP!" Mild puns add to the fun, as when T Square holds the flashlight to illuminate the darkened outbuilding and says, "Let me shed some light on things!" Diagrammatic arrows with large letters nail down the interchange among the tools and cleverly enforce the concept of working together. Meshon's animated style in this story could easily be turned into a short film cartoon. Buy it along with a wooden tool set as a gift for an enterprising young carpenter. (Picture book. 4-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
