Review by Booklist Review
In this oddly touching ode to male sensitivity, Negley shows that the toughest, coolest, and most heroic of men sometimes cry and that's okay. Large-scale, retro-modern illustrations in saturated primary colors show a wrestler crying in a locker room, ninja buddies on the outs with each other, a pirate struggling with his treasure map, and a speed racer who isn't first across the finish line. The cast of classic figures, drawn from fiction and real life, are often shown with tears on their cheeks or giving wistful glances, and readers must use the illustrations to figure out exactly how they are feeling and why. Is it frustration, disappointment, anger, or sadness? The spare text never explicitly says, leaving each disheartened tough guy's story open to interpretation. Negley cleverly depicts a range of emotions, validating that not only does everyone have feelings but it is perfectly fine to express them. Rather than try to teach kids what emotions are, this book focuses on emotional health in a unique and eye-catching way.--Smith, Julia Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Ninjas have fights with friends, wrestlers worry about their matches, superheroes cry. Tough guys are just like everyone else; they have emotions, and on the bad days they show them. To reinforce his point, Negley includes many of the usual dream jobs and beefs up many of his characters to the "manly" ideal. Color and shape both have a strong presence due to contrasting combinations of black, white, blue, yellow, and red. The style is fairly simplistic, relying on symbols-like a single teardrop-and body language more than faces in order to portray emotion. The majority of the story is rather downbeat, with various idols expressing frustration, defeat, and sadness. However, it takes a turn for the better at the end. Having made his statement, Negley bridges the gap between idealized tough guys and real-life tough guys through a boy and his father who are reading a book together. This sweet moment is a reminder to show love as well as other strong feelings. VERDICT A short and straightforward story that challenges the traditional notion that men shouldn't express their emotions.-Rachel Forbes, formerly of Oakville Public Library, Ontario, Canada © Copyright 2015. 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 Kirkus Book Review
The title says it all. These tough guys are rendered in simple lines and shapes and colored in black and white, red, blue, and yellow, but they represent a broad range of virility. There are a lucha libre wrestler, two ninjas, a knight, a cowboy, and more stereotypically manly men. These tough guys are shown at emotional and sometimes scary moments: the astronaut floating in space holding a photograph of his wife and child; the superhero eating his lunch alone atop a building; the tattooed biker weeping over a dead squirrel in the road. Everyone has feelings, says the textwell, almost everyone, as the robot clipping and smashing flowers with a grim expression on its metal face indicates. In the end, it is all about the father and son, curled up together on the bed, reading together. The front endpapers show the boy in all of these guises, while the back endpapers show him in each role with his dad. The figures have varying skin tones, and while in some contexts "guys" is not a gender-specific term, everyone here reads as male, which is probably OK and no doubt intended. Though it doesn't exactly topple stereotypes or delve deep into questions of gender identity, Negley's debut is nonetheless sincere. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
