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Summary
Summary
The walls would tremble. The dishes would break.
Oh, what a terrible mess we would make!
If all the animals came inside, bears would run down the stairs, kangaroos would bounce on the couch, and hippos would play hide-and-seek through the halls! Join one family's wild romp as animals of all shapes and sizes burst through the front door and make themselves right at home.
Extraordinary collage artwork from beloved illustrator Marc Brown (Arthur series) pairs with Eric Pinder's hilarious rhyming verse to make this the perfect book to read aloud again and again.
Author Notes
Marc Brown is the creator of the bestselling Arthur Adventure book series and creative producer of the number-one children's PBS television series, Arthur. He has also illustrated many other books for children, including Wild About Books and Dancing Feet! . Marc lives with his family in Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard.
Eric Pinder is the author of the non-fiction picture book Cat in the Clouds , published by The History Press in May 2009. He has also written a number of books for adults, and has been published in national magazines, including Slate and Newsday . Eric teaches at Chester College of New England and has an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-A boy imagines what would happen if all the animals he could think of came into his house and relates the ensuing chaos with relish. "The walls would tremble. The closets would quake./Oh, what a terrible mess we would make!" With pitch-perfect timing, Pinder uses the same rhythm long enough to explore the structure but avoids tedium through subtle changes. At first the child is simply thrilled by the mayhem, but as the havoc starts affecting him personally (the animals misuse his toys and hog the TV), he becomes less pleased. As his feeling change, so does the rhythm of the verse. As day ends, the youngster concludes that it was fun to have all the animals inside, but ultimately he's content with his dog and kitten. Using cut paper painted with gouache and decorated with photographic elements, the always-lively Brown seems to have taken particular joy in creating these bright illustrations. Showcasing a perfect synthesis of the cartoon style he made famous with "Arthur" (Little, Brown) and his more recent collage-style work, the artist is in top form. Don't leave this rollicking "what if" adventure out in the cold.-Anna Haase Krueger, Antigo Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
The hypothetical situation suggested by the title has ample comedic (and chaotic) potential, and Pinder and Brown mine it. "If all the animals came inside,/ my brother would cry. My sister would hide," says the narrator, a boy who's happy to join in the destructive fun. He relays various antics the animals would get up to, along with their theoretical results. "When all the animals wanted a snack,/ the skunk and the panda and even the yak/ would rush to the kitchen and chew up our food./ Mommy would tell them to stop being rude." Readers who can look past the tense oddities, as Pinder (Cat in the Clouds) attempts to describe imagined future pandemonium in the past tense, will find plenty of raucous entertainment, with the boy playing hide-and-seek with monkeys, dashing up the stairs with bears, and taking a bath with an octopus. Brown goes for (and achieves) maximum physical comedy in dynamic cut-paper collage art reminiscent of his work for Dancing Feet! (2010), but the awkward syntax is a letdown. Ages 2-6. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.