Review by Booklist Review
Ages 2-5. In the cumulative tradition of "The House that Jack Built," this rhyme uses a homey, down-to-earth subject. "This is the stocking cap for my head / that matches the scarf woolly and red / that's caught in the zipper / that's stuck on the jacket I wear in the snow." A little girl introduces her winter clothing bit by bit--such a bundle of layers that when it's time to play she can hardly move. Her mother saves the day, untangling her tearful child from a sled, unwrapping the outerwear, and serving a comforting snack. Crayon-bright colors shade the line drawings, contrasting crisply with the clean, white pages. All the action and humor appear in the illustrations, with the rhythmic beat of the verse creating a droll, deadpan view of the situation. To add to the fun, the rhyme turns into a rebus. Substituting a picture of an article of clothing for the appropriate word in the verse each time it reappears gives prereaders a chance to identify the objects. With its jaunty dust jacket and appealing subject, this book will also be a take-home favorite and a natural for preschool story hour. --Carolyn Phelan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
Written in cheerful, cumulative verse, the book recounts the problems of a young girl and her bulky winter clothing. Review, p. 614. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
To anyone who has taken care of a snowy climate, this will be hilariously, or painfully, familiar: because her scarf gets stuck in her zipper, the small protagonist is trapped by her entire, now hot, itchy, and uncomfortable, wardrobe. With a stroke of near-genius, Neitzel describes the problem in a ""House That Jack Built"" sort of cumulation that perfectly reflects the child's mounting misery, while Parker's wonderfully simple illustrations include rebuses for the offending garments (""These are the boots, too big for me, that cover the [jeans] stiff in the knee, that go over the [sweater] all itchy and warm. . .""). At last, Mother comes to disentangle the tot from her sled, wipe the tears, and conduct an unwrapping that rei+terates the cumulation one more time, in reverse. Parker augments the story with a playful cat and a cozy concluding scene. Nifty. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
