Review by Booklist Review
No amount of squeezing and shimmying or hefting and stretching will do: President Taft is stuck in the bath. Even if the entire event may not be true, Barnett turns the nonetheless legendary story into a hilarious cabinet-level fiasco as the president calls in one secretary after another to help, with the secretary of agriculture ready to grease the sides with butter, and the secretary of war even offering to blow up the tub. Only the level-headed First Lady suggests all the assembled men pull Taft out of the bath at once. The combination of Barnett's repetitive assonance (Double blast!' said Taft. Blast and drat!') and Van Dusen's gouache caricature illustrations (with strategically placed water and bubbles) sets the hilarious tone. A concluding author's note reveals an archival photo of four men sitting in Taft's custom-built bathtub for the White House and presents the actual facts pertaining to the president and his numerous commissioned bathtubs. Studying the presidency need never be dull again.--Leeper, Angela Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
As presidential legend has it, the generously proportioned William Howard Taft once became lodged in his tub. In this pictorial re-enactment, Barnett (Extra Yarn) and Van Dusen (King Hugo's Huge Ego) imagine the undignified predicament: " 'Blast!' said Taft. 'This could be bad.' " First Lady Nellie Taft discovers the awkward situation and, at Taft's command, summons the vice president and cabinet secretaries for help. Van Dusen depicts the mustached, apoplectic president scrunched with knees to chest; in gouache caricatures, he emphasizes Taft's ample flesh and visualizes the staffers' dubious solutions (such as greasing the tub with fresh-churned butter or blowing it "into smithereens"). Splashes and bubbles protect Taft's modesty, just barely. (Readers may be reminded of Audrey and Don Wood's cheeky King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, though Bidgood didn't want to leave his porcelain throne.) Barnett's afterword questions whether this embarrassing event happened ("Maybe. Maybe not") and describes the president's multiple custom-made fixtures: "President Taft denied ever commissioning a special Taft-sized tub.... He was lying." Although there's considerably more naked flesh on display then in the average picture book, there's no denying the riveting spectacle of Taft's struggle. Ages 4-8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4-Based on a possibly true event, this title tells the lighthearted tale of the 27th President, who gets lodged in the bathtub. At first, President Taft is reticent to ask for help, even from his wife. Eventually he admits he needs some assistance. That is when the true adventure begins. The vice president and cabinet come to the scene to try and brainstorm a solution. The secretary of agriculture suggests using a vat of butter to ease the president out of the tub. Illustrations enhance the madcap scenario when cows are brought in to the bathroom to produce cream for butter. The artwork for the secretary of war's solution is just as dramatic. Not surprisingly, his solution includes a dynamite blast. This is ruled out, for obvious reasons. Success comes when the cabinet members finally decide to work together. The video wraps up with some facts about President Taft and bathtubs. They include items that ran in newspapers throughout the country. This title spins a colorful yarn about the president that might not have actually happened. VERDICT True or not, this title is an entertaining story based on the life of an earlier president. The topic lends itself to classroom discussion about presidential folklore.-Robin Sofge, Prince William -Public Library System, VA © Copyright 2017. 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
The apocryphal story referred to in the title is what most people know about Taft. Whether or not it's based in fact, it's a good subject for a picture book, and Van Dusen's gouache cartoons suit the escalating silliness detailing progressively more absurd proposals of methods to dislodge the portly Chief Executive from the tub. A refreshing look at presidential indignity. (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
Barnett spins a probably apocryphal but nonetheless hilarious incident into a Cabinet-level crisis. In a natural extension of his rotund cameo in Judith St. George and David Small's So You Want To Be President! (2000), the heaviest commander in chief finds himself immovably stuck in his (standard-sized) tub one morning. "Blast!" he fumes. "This could be bad." Forced to seek help, he calls on his vice president and the secretaries of state, agriculture, war and the restbut their advice ("Dynamite!" "A huge vat of butter") have obvious flaws. Will he be forced to resign? Like Small in the aforementioned Caldecott winner, Van Dusen goes for a humorous, rather than mean, caricature. He depicts the porky president as a corpulent, bare figure sporting artfully placed suds, plus a fierce glower and a bristling handlebar mustache over multiple chins. Eventually, the luxuriously appointed White House bathroom fills up with likewise caricatured officials. At the suggestion of the (petite) first lady, they pull together so effectively that they send their lardy leader rocketing out the window. Noting that when Taft denied having a bathtub custom made "[h]e was lying," Barnett closes with a summary of his own research topped by an actual photograph of the oversized tub with several men posing inside. The soapiest, splashiest frolic featuring a head of state since Audrey and Don Wood's King Bidgood's in the Bathtub (1985). (Picture book. 6-9)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
