Description
From School Library Journal PreSchool-Grade 1-This follow-up to I Love You, Stinky Face (BridgeWater, 1997) continues in the tradition of innumerable stories in which a mother comforts her child's fears, but with a goofy twist. As with the first book, there is little sense of sentimentality, as Mama tries to allay her youngster's misgivings. The story begins with a concern that too many kids will get on the school bus, causing the tires to go flat. From there, the situations grow increasingly preposterous, such as what if the principal is "-really a witch-And she turned me into a snarly werewolf in polka dot underwear-?" McCourt does nothing new with this now-familiar story format but just goes for the easy laughs instead. Still, the silliness does provide Moore the opportunity to draw lots of entertainingly funny pictures. Her lively cartoon style is perfect for the over-the-top scenarios described in the text. Young readers may smile at Stinky Face's wacky imaginings, but this book has nothing to make it an enduring favorite. Tim Wadham, Maricopa County Library District, Phoenix, AZ Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Ages 3-6. The boy and his mother from I Love You, Stinky Face (1997) are back. Starting school is the situation this time, and again the picture book counters a kid's fears with his mother's warm, funny reassurance. The boy imagines wild, scary "What if?" scenarios on the school bus, in the classroom, and on the playground. Mama answers with even wilder solutions that extend his slapstick fantasies of flying desks, visiting aliens, and teacher witches. The pictures are too busy this time (it's barely possible to see the school through the splattered farce), and this certainly doesn't have the wry wit of Rosemary Wells' Timothy Goes to School (1981). But kids will like the message that everyone has exaggerated panic fantasies and that, far from being an alien at school, the kid will be accepted for the great guy he is. Hazel Rochman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Features & Highlights
- As a young boy wonders about all the things that might go wrong at school, his mother reassures him. By the creators of I Love You, Stinky Face.
