Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | EASY EDW | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
A young scribble matures into a neat line, then wriggles into a book of nursery rhymes where he transforms himself into different objects to assist the characters he meets there.
Author Notes
Pamela Duncan Edwards was born in England. She became a school librarian when she moved to the United States with her husband and children. She eventually started writing children's books. Her works include Livingstone Mouse; Roar! A Noisy Counting Book; The Worrywarts; Clara Caterpillar; Wake-Up Kisses; Dear Tooth Fairy; McGillycuddy Could!; and The Neat Line.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-In this brilliantly creative romp through the land of Mother Goose, a baby scribble, after much practice, becomes a Neat Line and enters a book of nursery rhymes. (Youngsters may recognize their own struggles with print as they view Scribble's humorous transformation.) There the line helps Little Boy Blue corral his sheep and cows by drawing a horn; saves Jack and Jill from another fall by drawing a pathway up the hill; waters Mary's drooping flowers (contrary Mary is in a snit and refuses to do so herself) by drawing a rain cloud; and creates a bird to scare away the spider harassing Little Miss Muffet. Tired from its labors, the line draws itself into the Man in the Moon and goes to sleep. The relevant nursery-rhyme verse follows each of Neat Line's encounters with the distressed characters. "Leave it to me," says the confident line, as it proceeds to draw itself into the problem-solving object. The large cartoon paintings, many of them spreads, are appropriately outlined with thick, bold lines and are framed by book pages on either side. This resourceful Neat Line deserves to take its place beside Peter H. Reynolds's The Dot (Candlewick, 2003) and Carole Lexa Schaefer's The Squiggle (Crown, 1996) as it inspires readers to attempt ever more challenging rescues by adding more characters and drawings to the story. A thoroughly satisfying journey.-Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community College, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Mother Goose meets Harold and the Purple Crayon in this latest from Edwards (Some Smug Slug) and Bluthenthal (I'm Not Invited?), who introduce a scribble that starts out as a baby and grows up to help some nursery rhyme characters in distress. The opening illustration shows a small, curlicue line in a bassinet, but by several pages later, it has hopped into a book where it morphs into a horn for Little Boy Blue and "a pathway leading up the hill" for Jack and Jill. Parents will recognize various stages of children's writing development in a spread of a doodled-on scrap-paper collage; opposite, a lined sheet of writing paper records the scribble's sequential efforts at writing the sentence, "I am a neat line." ("The scribble practiced/ and practiced/ and practiced/ on as many pieces of paper/ as it could find,/ and one day/ it grew up to be/ a Neat Line.") Bluthenthal endows the thick black line, highlighted in yellow, with personality; it curves into a smiley face at one end and even seems to register surprise when it encounters Little Miss Muffet, scared by a spider. The illustrations create a book-within-a-book effect, as the line hops from rhyme to rhyme amid a mix of collage and colored pencil artwork. This straightforward tale is also comforting in its predictability and its message of kindness. Ages 4-7. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
After a young scribble learns to be a Neat Line, it travels through a Mother Goose book helping the characters in the rhymes. It draws, for example, a large bird to protect Miss Muffet and makes a non-slippery path for Jack and Jill. The Line is a refreshingly different character, and the illustrations create an enjoyable book within a book. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
An enterprising little line grows up from a scribble and (once it achieves "neat"ness) makes its way through a volume of nursery rhymes, solving the characters' problems along the way. Thus, it draws a horn for Little Boy Blue to blow, a path for Jack and Jill to proceed safely down the hill, a cloud to rain on Contrary Mary's garden, and a bird to scare away Miss Muffet's spider. Blumenthal's mixed-media illustrations are bright and appropriately simple, the Neat Line rendered as a line drawn with a cheery smile at the end. Edwards's text is not without humor, but forces the conceit at times: While the path for Jack and Jill makes perfect sense, Mary's flowers' unhappiness is arbitrarily caused by Mary's neglect, which does not arise naturally from the rhyme. The concept of a neat line in itself is in tune with young children's attempts to master writing and drawing, but this one simply does not generate enough force of character to make a compelling protagonist. Cute, but lacking in the wit and vision of other recent works that deconstruct the notion of The Book. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
PreS-Gr. 2. A baby scribble grows up into a Neat Line that wriggles into a book of nursery rhymes and rescues the characters by transforming itself into whatever is needed. For Little Boy Blue, Line transforms into a horn to summon the sheep and cows that ran away when Boy Blue slept. For Jack and Jill, Line draws itself as a pathway to lead them back up the hill. To frighten the spider, Line becomes a big bird, and, for once, Miss Muffet is able to finish her meal. Some of the wry commentary may be a bit complicated for the young audience, but they will enjoy the play with the familiar Mother Goose characters as well as the bright, active pictures that extend the fun of the scenarios. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2005 Booklist
