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Summary
Summary
The bestselling, dynamic duo of Mac Barnett and Adam Rex creatively spar as they battle to tell a tantalizing tale in this clever comedy sketch that breaks "the fourth wall".
Meet Chloe: Every week, she collects loose change so she can buy tickets to ride the merry-go-round. But one fateful day, she gets lost in the woods on her way home, and a large dragon leaps out from--"Wait! It's supposed to be a lion," says Mac Barnett, the author of this book. But Adam Rex, the illustrator, thinks a dragon would be so much cooler (don't you agree?). Mac's power of the pen is at odds with Adam's brush, and Chloe's story hangs in the balance. Can she help them out of this quandary to be the heroine of her own story?
"Twisty plotting, irreverent dialogue, visual hilarity, and sophisticated book design...an arch package." -- Booklist
Don't miss these other books by Mac Barnett
Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem
How This Book Was Made
Rules of the House
Oh No! (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World)
Oh No! Not Again! (Or How I Built a Time Machine to Save History)
Author Notes
Mac Barnett is a New York Times bestselling author of books for children. His picture book Extra Yarn won a 2013 Caldecott Honor and the 2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. He also writes the Brixton Brothers series of mystery novels. He co-wrote Battle Bunny with Jon Scieszka which was a New York Times bestseller. Barnettt's book, Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, illustrated by Jon Klassen, made the New York Times bestseller list in October 2014. It also won an E.B. White Read-Aloud Award 2015 in the picture book category.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Take a vaudeville stage with some flimsy painted scenery, two clay figures that represent Barnett and Rex (Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem), a brash and bespectacled heroine named Chloe (hand-drawn), a lion (also drawn), and some walk-on characters, and you've got a comedy sketch in picture-book form about the chaos involved in collaborative storytelling. The action plays out in photos of a small, makeshift stage on which Chloe gets lost in the forest and meets-a lion? Or should it be a dragon? "Mac" and "Adam" disagree vehemently about which would be cooler, and Adam ends up being eaten by the lion. Chloe tries to enlist the help of passersby to save him ("I only go after wolves dressed as old ladies," says a strapping man felling trees) and eventually comes up with a solution of her own, one that allows for even more meta-comedy. As befits its work-in-progress nature, the story gets a little lost in the middle, but rat-a-tat dialogue and fresh visuals should keep it at the top of the bedtime pile. Ages 4-8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
The creators insert themselves into this tongue-in-cheek book. As clay versions of the author and illustrator squabble over their respective roles, the illustrated story of Chloe riding a merry-go-round, getting lost in a forest, and facing a lion is altered and jumbled. Focusing more on themselves and the art of making picture books than on Chloe's story, the jokes fall flat and the book feels pointlessly absurd and self-serving. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
The fourth wall is broken to bits in this meta-musing on the creation of a picture book. The fun begins with the author introducing himself and his illustrator (cast as fimo figurines) and their protagonist, Chloe, a blue-haired, bespectacled slip of a sketch with red cowboy boots and a Texas-shaped belt buckle. Chloe sets off on a three-dimensional stage to begin her story, but almost immediately author and illustrator experience creative differences. A replacement illustrator is hired, and fired, the author tries drawing his own pictures (not a good idea), and it finally falls to Chloe to save her day. Storytelling tropes abound, skewered one after another by Chloe's infallible wherewithal, until she secures her just reward. As entertainment the story functions well, combining twisty plotting, irreverent dialogue, visual hilarity, and sophisticated book design into an arch package. But beneath the silly surface, children will find a meaningful exposition of just what goes into a successful picture book, and how author, illustrator, and character must collaborate and compromise.--Barthelmess, Thom Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-5-All Chloe wants is a ride on the merry-go-round, but her story is hijacked by a couple of unlikely characters. In a dispute about who's in charge, the illustrator draws the writer into a gorilla suit, and the writer writes the illustrator into the lion's belly. Use this book to teach point of view and the collaborative process. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
(Picture book. 4-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
