Review by Booklist Review
When cranky old Miss Finn stacks a pile of cardboard boxes on the curb, it's a young boy's signal to get crafty. Together with his dog, he uses tape, paint, and markers to build a train, race car, and jet. Hamilton sweeps us into each fantasy scenario, with the imagined vehicles looking fine as they dart about landscapes. They come crashing down when Miss Finn barges outside and demands, Who made this mess? Panicked, the boy blames the wind a really big wind. There's a missed opportunity here, as the boy, whose ability to fantasize has been well established, does not get to flesh out an extravagant lie (though we do get two fun illustrations of an imaginary twister tossing him and his dog across the yard). Instead, Hamilton wraps it up with the boy quickly feeling bad about the fib and making amends. Story balance aside, this is light and enjoyable, and rare will be the kid who doesn't get a kick out of Hamilton's huge-headed, walleyed, and good-intentioned characters.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-This story tells of a child in a true-to-life situation that leads to a useful lesson. A boy and his dog have a fine day playing with a pile of boxes discarded by a neighbor. "Then we played a train game. We went far, far, far." The boxes next become a race car and then a jet. Finally there's a mess. When Miss Finn, the neighbor, comes out and asks, "Who made this mess?" the nameless narrator tells a fib. "'The wind,' I said." And soon, "My big fib got bigger. 'It was a big wind,' I said." The reader doesn't know if Miss Finn believes the fib, but she does start picking up the boxes. Events unfold with a simplicity and economy that's appropriate for the narrator and the intended audience. Hamilton's comic drawings are suitably spare, too, and add a bit of kooky flavor to the unembellished narrative. Large heads of the three characters deftly convey feelings, and bits of costume are added when games are occurring. Miss Finn's slow work in picking up the boxes prompts the youngster's simple confession. As he helps with the cleanup, he finds that telling the truth brings happy results. Miss Finn's displeasure is quickly resolved, and over milk and cookies, she initiates a final game. "I am queen. You are my knights. And we are friends." The narrator presents a flower to his hostess and says, "You don't have to play that we are friends. That is real." The brief account is sure to evoke smiles and recognition from readers and could prompt class discussion.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston (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
A boy fibs about the mess he made while playing with his elderly neighbor's discarded boxes, and she poignantly enters his fantasy world to understand. This book combines readability and repetition; a multifaceted plot about imaginative play and intergenerational friendship; and a moral about honesty. New readers will enjoy seeing the contrast between reality and imagination in the bold, slightly wacky illustrations. (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
A fib made right paves the way to intergenerational friendship. When Miss Finn gets rid of a bunch of boxes (presumably to recycle them, though this detail is unexplained), her young neighbor and his dog seize an opportunity for imaginary play. The scene showing the elderly woman carrying the boxes out on the lawn depicts her as rather fearsome, or at least cranky, and the boy and his dog look on with rather alarmed expressions. When she is safely gone, they exuberantly pretend the boxes are a train, a race car and a jet. The controlled text unfortunately fails to match their ebullience and comes across as stilted in its efforts to employ repetition. "Then we played a race car game. We went fast, fast, fast." Miss Finn then reappears, arms waving and red all over, dismayed by the mess. It's hard to blame the boy for fibbing and blaming the wind, and the fib doesn't seem all that big, which undermines the story a bit. After watching her struggle to pick up the boxes, he comes clean and offers help, prompting Miss Finn to laud his honesty and change her tune. Hamilton's cartoonish, multimedia art reflects her changed affect by softening her expression as she serves milk and cookies and hunkers down to play with the boy and his dog amid the tidied boxes. A sweet, if uneven, story. (Early reader. 5-7)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
