School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-The members of the Frazzle family certainly live up to their name: they are an utter mess. In winter they forget their coats, in summer they forget their sunscreen, on trips to the grocery store they forget everything except eggs and leave poor Grandpa in the frozen-foods aisle. The happy-go-lucky parents go to work with uncombed hair while the daydreaming kids take fishing rods and flippers to school instead of backpacks. When Aunt Rosemary comes to stay, she makes it her mission to organize this disheveled and forgetful lot. While her lists, schedules, and strings prove useless, she unknowingly inspires young Annie Frazzle to compose songs that help the others remember important things. This silly family story packs a lot of child appeal. Goofy moments, as when Mr. Frazzle forgets his trousers one morning, will have young listeners in giggles. The true strength is in Gammell's signature artwork; a gorgeous mess of rainbow-colored splotches and splatters depict a sudden rainstorm, a muddy yard, and delicate bubbles while erratic lines suggest constant movement as the characters teeter on ledges and jitter across spreads. Even after the Frazzles reform their neurotic ways and find a way to remember things like Grandpa and grocery lists, a final page shows that they retain their essential, and rather charming, flakiness. Messy fun.-Kiera Parrott, Darien Library, CT (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
"The Frazzles were forgetful," writes Bonwill (I Don't Want to Be a Pea!). "They forgot their umbrellas when it rained." Caldecott Medalist Gammell paints the raindrops as gorgeous splatters of grey-blue watercolor paint that speak volumes about the family's soggy sad-sackness. Enter Aunt Rosemary, a disheveled ball of fire, whose solution is "making notes and calendars and schedules and lists until it seemed that the whole house was covered in paper." It's little Annie Frazzle who hits on the true solution: mnemonics as song: "Apples, lettuce, bread, and beets,/ Chicken, carrots, chocolate treats," sings Annie on a shopping trip. "Milk and cheese and one thing more,/ Don't leave Grandpa at the store!" Everyone knows or belongs to a family that has at least a little Frazzle forgetfulness in its DNA, but the story's emphasis feels out of whack, with too much time given to the setup and to blowhard Aunt Rosemary, and not enough to the family's goofily logical, cobbled-together song-making (which Bonwill nails). Even Gammell's pictures-with their freewheeling immediacy and radiant, unpredictable palette-can't quite set the narrative aright. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
