Review by Booklist Review
Performing in a first musical concert can be a nerve-wracking experience, as Zuppardi has artfully visualized. Jack's undisclosed worry first appears as a smallish blue blob the morning of his trumpet concert. He tries to hide, but the growing worry jumps on his bed, haunts his chair at breakfast, and trails him outside. When it's time to go to the performance, the blob has become a huge black cloud filling the room, and Jack shouts, I don't want to go! as his tears splatter in a messy and convincing shower. His worry? That he will make a mistake. Mom comforts him with reassuring words: It's about having fun . . . and I will still love you. Braver now, Jack can encourage his friends, who, surprisingly, had worries, too! In a sunny conclusion, the concert goes well for all not a blob in sight. The acrylic-and-pencil illustrations truly transmit the amorphous nature of worrying, using convincing facial and body language, followed by huge happy smiles portraying a joyful resolution.--Gepson, Lolly Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Zuppardi (The Nowhere Box) gives physical presence to a boy's nervousness and fear, imagining his "Worry" as a gray-blue blob that he just can't shake. Jack's anxiety is centered around his first music concert at school, and his Worry grows larger and more ominous until he confesses his fear to his mother in an anguished burst of emotion: "I'm worried I'll make a mistake and you won't love me anymore!" After an encouraging reminder that the "concert isn't about playing perfectly. It's about having fun," Jack is able to shrink his worry, share his mother's advice with his nervous classmates, and play the trumpet with abandon. Zuppardi's scribbly pencils and expressive bursts of paint readily capture the big, intense emotions Jack is feeling. Ages 4-8. Agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Jack, a young boy who loves playing the trumpet, has been looking forward to his "first-ever concert," but he awakens on the morning of the program with a Worry that he cannot get rid of even when he plays his trumpet ("the one thing that always made him happy"). When it's time to leave for the event, the big ugly Worry has grown especially large, and Jack does not want to play in the concert. "I'm worried I'll make a mistake and you won't love me anymore!" he confides to his mom. Mom is reassuring. "I will still love you even if you play every note wrong," she tells him, and Jack passes that information on to all of his young friends whose Worries have followed them to the concert. Jack's Worry, which resembles a large, blue-gray dust bunny sitting on or next to him throughout the illustrations, quickly expands until it dwarfs the young boy, finally reaching elephantine size. Despite the child's ominous feelings about the concert, Zuppardi's pencil-drawn and brightly colored acrylic cartoon illustrations add an upbeat feeling to this simple story, which turns out well. VERDICT Zuppardi successfully describes a universal fear and provides a simple mind-set that even a preschooler can use to help overcome that fear.-Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Public Library, OH © Copyright 2016. 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
A boy's fear of playing his trumpet at his first concert nearly overwhelms him until he confides in his mother. Jack loves playing his trumpet and looks forward to his "first-ever concert," but on concert day he wakes with a Worry. Jack tries hiding under his blanket and his bed, but his Worry follows him. With his Worry in tow, Jack can't enjoy the special breakfast his mother has made. He runs around the yard and plays his trumpet, but his Worry remains. Eventually, a distraught Jack confesses he doesn't want to go to the concert because he's afraid of making a mistake and his mother won't love him anymore. When she assures him she'll love him even if he plays "every note wrong," all ends on a high note. Whimsical pencil-and-acrylic illustrations use swift, sketchy lines and color washes to visually take Jack from confident anticipation to debilitating fear. Before his Worry arrives, Jack appears center-page, self-assuredly playing his trumpet with notes joyously swirling across the page. Then Jack's Worry appears, first as a small, somewhat-innocuous, blue-green blob, quickly morphing into a large, dark, ominous, overshadowing presence, sapping Jack's confidence. However, once Jack confronts his Worry, it shrinks, leaving him smiling and empowered. Jack and his mom are white, but his friends and orchestra-mates are nicely diverse. Ideal antidote for anxious kids facing their own Worries. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
