Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-Proimos has written both picture books and Nickelodeon screenplays, and here he combines the two sensibilities in a comic-book style collection of short vignettes. Three previously published titles [ The Many Adventures of Johnny Mutton (2001); Johnny Mutton, He's So Him (2003); and Mutton Soup (2004, all HMH)] are here collected in a single volume with the addition of a new story. It begins when Momma Mutton finds a baby left on her doorstep. She happily takes him in, names him Johnny, and never notices that he is in fact a sheep, not a human. At home, at school, and around town, Johnny attracts attention by wearing socks on his ears, joining a water ballet, and dressing as a runny nose for Halloween. His escapades are full of offbeat humor and some surprisingly poignant moments, with a few potty humor gags thrown in for good measure. The illustrations are bold, accessible, and as zany as the text. These silly tales may, at first glance, seem slight. However, when readers take them in as a whole, deeper messages begin to emerge around the themes of staying true to yourself and respecting others, quirks and all. Johnny Mutton is good both for a laugh and for a reflection on self-determination and self-respect.- Jenna Lanterman, formerly at The Calhoun School and Mary McDowell Friends 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
This volume combines previously published stories about the sheep in boy's clothing: The Many Adventures of Johnny Mutton (2001); Johnny Mutton, He's So Him! (2003); and Mutton Soup (2004). A section of Johnny's "beliefs" and a tongue-in-cheek author interview are included. The bright comic-strip art and scratchy hand-lettered text are a good match for the stories' goofy humor. (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
Johnny Mutton, he's so him! Before there was Babymouse or the Wimpy Kid, before Dragonbreath or Big Nate, there was a baby sheep on (human) Momma Mutton's front step. Johnny Mutton is a sheep raised as a boy and has as distinctive a personality as could be imagined. When his whole class dresses for Halloween as either pirates or witches, Johnny Mutton arrives dressed as a runny nose. Good thing his best friend, Gloria Crust, comes dressed as a giant box of tissues. When Johnny Mutton's ever loving Momma decides her son needs to learn some manners (he wears his napkin on his head and says "pronto" instead of "please" when asking for the peas), she sends him to Ms. Bottoms. He drives Ms. Bottoms to distraction, but at home, just for his mother, he becomes the picture of decorum. Momma Mutton wins a staring contest with a well-timed toot (yes, that kind of toot). And so on. General hilarity follows in his trotter-steps. Proimos here collects his three previously published Johnny Mutton titles and adds a short new comic and a foolish interview to complete the adventures of his enthusiastic, idiosyncratic ovine hero. The full-color graphic panels are stagy and cartoony and silly in just the right way. Fifteen graphic stories collected in one tight package for a new generation of fans. (Graphic collection. 6-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
