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Summary
Summary
You can bet your bottom dollar this funny story is the cream of the crop -- and the best thing since sliced bread ! Award-winning artist Serge Bloch will have kids laughing their heads off at this child's-eye look at idiomatic expressions like "ants in your pants," "homework is for the birds," and "cat got your tongue?" These commonly used sayings make sense in the adult world, but just imagine what a child pictures when she hears it's "raining cats and dogs!" With witty and wonderful images that mix whimsical line drawings with photographs of inanimate objects, Bloch gives us a unique and sympathetic perspective on a boy's first day of school where colorful butterflies flutter in our hero's stomach and a cloud rains on him when he's "under the weather." Even the "big cheese" Principal has a body cut out of a block of Swiss.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-A nameless little boy braves the first day of school in this crisply illustrated picture book. The text is a series of idioms that take him through the day, from waking up "on the wrong side of the bed," to having a "long face" at lunch, to being "happy as a puppy with two tails" when he finally comes home to his dog. The illustrations interpret each idiom literally, often to comic effect: "we'd be in a real pickle if we missed the bus" is accompanied by a pickle-as-bus picture, while meeting the "Big Cheese" shows a principal wearing a dress made of Swiss cheese. Bloch's graphic style incorporates photographs of objects into pen-and-ink drawings, and the copious use of white space keeps the focus squarely on the words and their visual interpretations. Wallace Edwards's Monkey Business (Kids Can, 2004) covers similar territory, but with a much more elaborate illustration style that goes more for humor than understanding. Here, Bloch's simple though imaginative pictures and clean visual style invite discussion of the deeper meanings of these oft-used phrases, making this an ideal book for the classroom or for one-on-one sharing.-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
A nonstop barrage of idioms baffles a boy on the first day of school in this small-format book, best for its insouciant illustrations. On each page, the child hears a figure of speech ("My mother said I got up on the wrong side of the bed) and, as the illustrations show, he takes the words literally. Told he'd "be in a real pickle if we missed the bus," for example, the boy envisions himself riding with other latecomers in a vehicle made of a pickle slice; this image, like the others, combines a photo with larkish pen-and-ink drawing, and Bloch (I Can't Wait) packs an outsize amount of comedy into each stroke of his pen. Adding minimal facial features, he imbues half a dozen bananas with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat (the "top banana" preens above the wannabes). Although the boy's feelings are on target--he fears school, misses his dog, dreads lunch but trades grins with the boy at the next desk--the one-note lines can grow thin; the book may be better browsed than read through. Ages 4-up. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
In a less-is-more approach, simple black-and-white cartoons augmented with photocollage depict one little boy's first-day-at-school encounters with a seemingly endless string of clichs. As he bids his faithful dog Roger adieu, his Dad tells him "to put his best foot forward;" against the white background, an ink-lined round-headed kids steps out, his father's brown brogan leading the way. And so it goes, through cans of worms and cups of tea, till he arrives home to Roger, "happy as a puppy with two tails." Slight, just-right, back-to-school fun. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Taking metaphors literally is always fun, especially for young kids, for whom the images are fresh. Bloch's clear pen-and-ink drawings with occasional photographic collage do a great job of juxtaposing fact and feeling in the wry scenarios that illustrate the literal meaning of common sayings. In one scene, for example, a young boy has ants in his pants and is laughing his head off, even as the teacher tells him to zip his lip. Whether beginning preschool for the first time or returning to grade school after vacation, readers will recognize the panic and the fantasy of being top banana, the joy of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, the need to bottle up your feelings, and the nurse who keeps an eye out. The slapstick fun with words and pictures will appeal to preschoolers, but it is older grade-schoolers who will enjoy exploring the ways that words work.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2008 Booklist
