Review by Booklist Review
Here's a story that those with toddlers at home may find only slightly exaggerated. For unknown reasons Sweet Little Sammy suddenly turns bad. Though he starts small by shaving the cat, the diapered young demon soon transforms himself into a towering monster who stumps gleefully down city streets, like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man of Ghostbusters fame, playing with real trucks and spattering fleeing crowds with a stream of drool. Nothing can stop him not the police, not the fire department, not even (can you believe it?) librarians and their sweet stories. Only after Mom swoops in with a mega-blanky does he shrink back to snuggle-size. Capturing Sammy's initial transformation with a subtle change of expression in a large facial close-up, Breen goes on in his cartoon illustrations to depict the chubby cherub gleefully wreaking havoc until he is brought back into the (blanket) fold with a hug and a bottle. Gee-gah goo, sighs Sammy at the end. In big bad baby talk: I'll be back. Hasta la vista, baby.--Peters, John Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Hale (Clark the Shark) and Breen (Pug and Doug) have such a similar go-broad-or-go-home comic aesthetic that it's surprising they haven't crossed collaborative paths before. Together, they come up with a hybrid of Honey, I Blew Up the Kid and The Incredible Hulk, starring an almost naked toddler whose bad mood transforms him from kewpie doll to holy terror. "Pausing only to slurp from his sippy cup, Big Bad Baby set out to take over the world!" proclaims Hale, While the ensuing havoc-not to mention the implications of a giant, filled diaper and a torrent of drool-are almost too horrible to contemplate, Breen has a good time doing so. A highly expressive pooch named Boris, deemed Baby's "evil hench-dog," is actually a shocked reader surrogate, and is almost as much fun to watch as Baby himself. A surplus of maniacal jokes and sound cues ought to win the hearts of older siblings who know just how bad babies can be. Ages 3-5. Author's agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. Illustrator's agent: Teresa Kietlinski, Prospect Agency. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Sweet Little Sammy is having a bad day, and no one knows exactly why. After chasing the cat and "redecorating" the kitchen and bedroom wall, he needs bigger badness to satisfy him. A Monster Machine transforms him into Big Bad Baby, whose BURP uproots trees and overturns cars. He strides down the highway, picking up trucks, drawing on the sides of buildings, and making a stinky mess in his diaper. Police, firemen, and even librarians are powerless to stop him. His resourceful mother follows on a bicycle and is aboard one of the helicopters that drops his giant blue blanky over him. Big Bad Baby becomes-at least outwardly-his own sweet self again. His mother snuggles him in her arms and says, "Big bad babies need love too." This is fortunate because the last page shows Sammy with a maniacal gleam in his eyes, planning to take over the world. Cartoon artwork done in watercolors and colored pencil capture the havoc the giant baby causes, and the expansive spreads are filled with humorous details.-Mary Jean Smith, formerly at Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
One day sweet baby Sammy morphs into Bad Baby, a monster who treats real cars like toys, draws all over tall buildings, and otherwise terrorizes the town. His plot to take over the world is thwarted by his mom, who knows his kryptonite: his blankie. In the tradition of Hawkes's The Wicked Big Toddlah, this irresistible comedy features uproarious illustrations of the diaper-clad Baby-zilla being something less than neighborly. (c) Copyright 2014. 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.
