School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-New siblings will easily relate to the angst that baby Harry causes for his older brother. "Before Harry, nobody grabbed my gorilla and chewed on its nose. Yesterday, Harry did-. Before Harry, nobody but ME sat on Grandma's lap. Yesterday, Harry did." To restore order to his once peaceful household, the boy suggests a variety of solutions. "Flush Harry down the toilet!... Stick Harry in the zoo!... Mail Harry to the moon!" One morning the house is strangely quiet, and the older sibling worries that his parents have actually sent helpless Harry to outer space. Climbing in his laundry basket spaceship, he achieves a daring rescue and even lets Harry sit on his lap for the ride home. Emberley's strong visual punch lines bring the humor to life, and the older boy's expressions clearly get his feelings across. Young listeners are sure to giggle at the various predicaments that Harry's brother envisions for him. Mail Harry to the Moon will have broad appeal for those with or without a new baby in the family.-Jayne Damron, Farmington Community Library, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
"Mail Harry to the moon!" is just one of the suggestions made by the narrator, who's suffering the displacement blues since the arrival of his annoying, attention-hogging baby brother. "Before Harry, nobody but me sat on Grandma's lap," he mourns. "Yesterday, Harry did. So I said, `Put Harry back inside Mommy.' " But when the boy believes that Mommy and Daddy really have taken him up on the moon idea, his attitude changes dramatically. Harris and Emberley (Happy Birth Day!) are old hands at striking the right balance between comic Sturm und Drang and genuine poignancy, and their considerable talents make this otherwise familiar tale feel fresh and funny--and psychologically true. Emberley's cartooning brims with terrific shtick--he gives the hero some slow burns and outbursts worthy of Ralph Kramden. Kids will particularly appreciate Emberley's gift for staging: the final sequence, in which the narrator sets off for the moon (a laundry basket serves as rocket, a colander as space helmet), blows out any vestige of sentimentality with its full-throttle energy. Ages 3-6. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved