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Summary
Summary
Coworkers beware--Violet's here to "help" at the office in this lively picture book that puts a fun-loving spin on the grown-up work world.
When Violet visits her mom's office on Take Your Child to Work Day (or snow days, or school holidays, or babysitter-is-sick days), she is very helpful. She answers the phone (once she stops accidentally hanging up on people!), makes business cards (after adding a snazzy personal touch!), learns how to use the paper shredder (and discovers how to make her very own confetti!), and gives the boss pointers on his presentation. With a little mayhem--and a lot of joy--Violet makes her mark on the office!
Whimsical text and effervescent illustrations highlight the indelible spirit of Violet, an adorable character young readers and parents alike will delight in knowing.
Author Notes
Amy Reichert knows from experience how much kids can help with grownup work. She couldn't have written this book without her daughter, Joan, and one funny seven-year-old named Julia. She is the author of three other children's books, including the award-winning While Mama Had a Quick Little Chat , illustrated by Alexandra Boiger. She lives with her family in Bethesda, Maryland.
Alexandra Boiger is the illustrator of numerous children's books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton and The Little Bit Scary People by Emily Jenkins. Ms. Boiger lives in Northern California with her husband and daughter. Visit her at AlexandraBoiger.com.
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Whether it's due to a snow day or baby-sitter illness, "You never know when you might have to go to work at the office." Should that happen, says the irrepressible, nattily dressed, umbrella-wielding narrator, Violet, make the most of it. "Hop hop hop across the entire lobby on just the black squares," she instructs, "all the way to the elevator and push the UP button. Grown-ups love it when kids push the elevator buttons for them." With this and other working world tips, Violet proves to be a more benevolent, less spoiled version of Eloise; she's literally bounding with energy and eagerness to help (except when she's napping during a boring conference call, along with all the adults), and she's so utterly confident that even the boss ends up taking her advice on how to give an effective presentation. Although adults may identify more closely with Violet's flummoxed mother, those still too young for the labor force should get a kick out of seeing how easy it is to discombobulate the button-down mind. Ages 4-8. Agent: BookStop Literary. Illustrator's agent: Marcia Wernick, Wernick & Pratt Agency. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
A little girl dramatizes the advantages of bringing one's child to work (e.g., "Grown-ups love it when kids push elevator buttons for them"). While most of the winking humor is aimed at adults, kids will appreciate narrator Violet's self-assured presence. The mixed-media art sticks with a subdued palette, except for irrepressible Violet whose bright colors play up her unbusinesslike boisterousness. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Snow days, half days, or sick babysitter, you never know when it might be Take Your Child to Work Day. Young Violet offers children plenty of advice for the professional world in this lighthearted tale that uses the circular, second-person style of Laura Numeroff's If You Give . . . series. After her first hops across the lobby, there's Mrs. Honey's secret candy drawer and even a hole punch for making confetti. Much of work, it turns out, is similar to school, with coffee breaks like snack time and presentations like show-and-tell. But Violet has warnings as well: Do not push 1 and 1 and 1 if you want three copies!!! Eloise-esque illustrations expertly capture the exuberant girl's innocuous misbehavior as well as all of the exhausted adults. As the day wears on, so too does Violet's mother's patience. Children will relate to Violet's enthusiasm to return to the office, and adults will recognize the coworkers' subtle eye rolling.--Leeper, Angela Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
Who needs Mother's Day as an excuse? There's no shortage of picture books about the great and glorious and ever-wise Mommy, or of beaming mothers ready to snap them up. But occasionally these odes to the maternal manage to stand out, as does Marino's richly illustrated tale of separation. Whereas Mom usually flies to Chicago on business, here Mama Elephant leaves Little One because, she says, "I must climb the highest mountain to ask the skies for rain." Marino's images are drenched in appropriate anthropomorphism and emotion, and end with a heart-melting reunion. ALL ABOUT GRANDMAS By Roni Schotter. Illustrated by Janice Nadeau. 32 pp. Dial. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 5) With Grandparents' Day still a marginal holiday, grandmothers tend to home in on Mother's Day as an occasion of their own, and there is plenty to celebrate in Schotter's all-inclusive multicultural vision. "There are jellying, jamming and pickling grannies,/ plus a surprising number of tickling grannies./ Some have a talent for fixing and mending,/ others are expert at pretending," she writes. Nadeau ("Cinnamon Baby") delightfully captures, the range, from apron-frocked grandmothers to kvetching Jewish grandmas to sporty baby boomers barely distinguishable from the children's mothers. TAKE YOUR MAMA TO WORK TODAY By Amy Reichert. Illustrated by Alexandra Boiger. 40 pp. Atheneum. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) In these overloaded days of work/life blur, few parents need Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day as an excuse to drag children in. "Snow days. Half days. Baby sitter's sick today? You never know when you might have to go to work at the office," this child-centric guide says. And what's not to like when you get there? The secret candy drawer, "all the fuss" of doting (or procrastinating) colleagues and snack time, otherwise known as coffee break. This "Eloise"-without-the-attitude (and let's face it,"the office is no Plaza) offers an amusing and semi-informative take on what Mom does all day. It may also come in handy. DOLPHIN BABY! By Nicola Davies. Illustrated by Brita Granstrom. 32 pp. Candlewick Press. $15.99. (Picture book; ages 5 to 8) Nestling nonfiction books about animals in the bosom of familial relations always makes the facts more homey. But dolphins hardly need the help, especially with the benefit of Granstrom's expressive acrylics. Each spread here tells the story of Dolphin's first six months, with age-appropriate facts about dolphins in a corner on every other page. Young children will love learning how little Dolphin suckles, whistles in baby talk, catches his first fish and rubs his tummy against Mom as sweetly animated paintings highlight each step. PETER AND THE MOON By Alice Brière-Haquet. Illustrated by Célia Chauffrey. 40 pp. Auzou. $14.95. (Picture book; ages 5 to 8) In Eric Carle's "Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me," Daddy dutifully does the job. In this new illustrated story, translated from the French, the child does all the work, with his father as mere helper and his mother as recipient of the reward. But in true everyone-must-work-together fashion, it takes more than just Peter, his father and a ladder to get there; neighbors and strangers also pitch in, and Peter must walk the ends of the earth in his effort. A somewhat awkward translation and slightly off-kilter rhymes do little to dull Chauffrey's exuberantly topsy-turvy landscapes. PAMELA PAUL ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-A young girl presents a primer on how to be a "professional Mama's office helper." In an accomplished, matter-of-fact tone, Violet offers tips on helping the boss with a presentation ("that's like show-and-tell for grown-ups"), preparing needed supplies ("Sharpen your pencils and put them in your desk, or in a pencil cup, or line them up, or spell your name with them"), and answering the phone ("DO NOT HANG UP THE PHONE BEFORE YOU PUSH THE HOLD BUTTON"). Boiger's whimsical watercolor illustrations show the charismatic little helper playing chair tag to "liven things up" in a meeting and teaching an adult how to add a "snazzy personal touch" by lying face down on the copy machine. Lots of cheeky fun that's sure to elicit giggles.-Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada (c) Copyright 2012. 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.
