Eric, the boy who lost his gravity

Jenni Desmond

Book - 2014

Stuck in the house with his little sister one rainy day, Eric grows so angry that he lifts right off the floor and runs out the window, but after cooling off he realizes he misses his family.

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Location Call Number   Status
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Subjects
Genres
Picture books
Published
Maplewood, NJ : Blue Apple Books 2014.
Language
English
Main Author
Jenni Desmond (-)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
30 unnumbered pages : color illustrations ; 29 cm
ISBN
9781609053482
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

When Eric gets angry at his younger sister, Alice-so angry that his mouth becomes a pencil scribble of fierceness-he loses his gravity and floats up to the ceiling, through the window, and out into the sky. Flying cheers Eric up immediately ("Wow! This is excellent," he says), and with the lifting of his mood, his gravity returns; he lands in a tree, and his family sprints to his rescue. British artist Desmond's (Backstage Cat) drawings of Eric's and Alice's mood changes have a comics sensibility to them, with anarchic, scrawled facial expressions. But she also combines collage and drawing to supply a comforting setting in which strong emotions can play out. In the living room, Eric's father stands in his underwear, ironing his trousers, while his mother reads the newspaper, and Alice pesters Eric. Later, when Eric is rescued, his parents carry him home together. Eric's momentary loss of gravity is part of a larger story of a family in which he and his sister are loved, and are learning to love each other. Ages 5-8. Agent: Penny Holroyde, Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review

In a challenge to tales in which children rise in the air when elated, Eric and his toddler sister, Alice, both float upward when "very angry." Happiness literally re-grounds them. The turf is familiar enough at the opening double-page spread: a nuclear family inside their domicile on a rainy day, with Eric happily pushing a train along railroad tracks and Alice approaching him with her toy bunny. It's all clearly happened before. Alice pesters Eric, then Eric is blamed for upsetting Alice. This leads to Eric's angry elevation and eventual entrapment in a tree. There are pleasing, unexpected touches: Their mom reads the newspaper while their dad irons; the paper has metafictive headlines referring to both this book and another by the author; there is an excellent aerial view of the room from Eric's new perspective. Throughout, a combination of watercolor, collage and stark pencil lines complement a text that combines simple sentences in a sans-serif typeface with additional penned-in words, as in a series of "AARGH"s that follow a simultaneous succession of angry Erics slowly losing gravity. The story ends in a sweet sibling reunion, as Eric restores to Alice her beloved bunny. Although this book has much to offer, the darkly scrawled marks that represent facial expressions are often grotesque; furious, jagged mouths express the children's anger. Sturdy children, particularly those with siblings, will respond to the starkness of emotions expressed. (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.