Review by New York Times Review
WE ARE ALL MORTIMER. Mortimer is a penguin, resident of the South Pole or wherever it is penguins huddle for warmth and companionship. He hates the snow, finds his own waddling ridiculous, and wishes the other penguins would zip it already with the squawking. Even the sea monsters attempting to munch him for lunch leave Mortimer cold. The cold leaves him cold too. "Penguin Problems," written by Jory John and illustrated by Lane Smith, is for all those parents whose own darling Peters and Peytons and Tylers and Tristans occasionally (and I am sure it is only very occasionally) metamorphose into Mortimers. My own Mortimer is a 13-year-old girl who spent this very morning complaining that my wife and I talked while driving her to her field hockey game. Her complaint was, yes, that her parents had a conversation in her presence. In that moment, I would have very much liked to have sat her down to learn something from the funny and acerbic "Penguin Problems," but my daughter has now graduated beyond taking lessons, as Mortimer does, from cartoon walruses. Perhaps I could have instead simply used the book as a spanking paddle, but that would have risked ruining Lane Smith's evocative illustrations of endless cold, frightful inky depths and the spartan beauty of Antarctic mountain peaks. So, instead, we watched our daughter join her friends and, when she was out of earshot, complained about her for the duration of the field hockey game, because parents can be Mortimers too. We may also all be the tetchy grandmother of Vera Brosgol's warm and weird "Leave Me Alone!," which somehow mashes "There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" with something out of "Star Trek." The poor crone in "Leave Me Alone!" wants only to be left in peace to knit sweaters, but her dozens of grandchildren will not give her a moment's peace. Nor will the bears in the woods, the goats on the mountaintops or the moon people on the moon. Is a little alone time too much to ask for the avid knitter? Apparently so. In a fit of pique, she retreats, literally, from the world, finally finding the peace she craves in the unlikeliest of places. The problem is, once crabby Grandma is all alone, she is really all alone, and as any grandmother worth her hard candies knows, what good are dozens of hand-knit sweaters if you've got nobody to give them to? Brosgol's clever text manages to feel both classic and ultracontemporary, as do her illustrations, which veer between timeless watercolors and what could pass as rough sketches for a "Minions" spinoff. Colorful and fun, "Leave Me Alone!" will be a good addition to any bookshelf, especially for children who like to shout along. Another new book toys with the very new and very, very old. Patrick McDonnell's "Tek" tells the tale of a Stone Age boy with a serious addiction to his screens: In McDonnell's book, early humans have the internet and television sets, but no fire. (The children also have beards. I don't know why.) Little Tek is so enamored with the beeps and boops in front of his face that he ignores his dinosaur best friend, misses out on evolution, and sits out all the ice age fun that can be had when the world is covered in fluffy snow. It takes a force of nature to shake him - literally - from his stupor and get him back out in the world. McDonnell was a Caldecott Honor artist for the 2012 book "Me...Jane," about the primatologist Jane Goodall, and his art here remains fun and lively. The story, however, feels heavy-handed in its binary treatment of the increasing role electronics play in the lives of young children. "Tek" itself is designed to resemble a tablet in both the ancient and modern sense of the word, a clever bit of packaging that may cause some handwringing among parents who prefer their books, at least, in a more primitive form. Perhaps no children's form is more ancient than the book of verse, those compilations of light doggerel meant to entertain and instruct. Done poorly, these anthologies come off as patronizing and pedantic, but put into the hands of Calvin Trillin and the illustrator Roz Chast, the results are a constant delight. "No Fair! No Fair!: And Other Jolly Poems of Childhood" uses a Pandora's box of childhood complaints as its inspiration. The poems are crisp and tart as autumn apples. Here's a little sample, called "Studying the Butterfly": Though butterflies are cool, all right, Instead of them I thought we might Put action figures on the floor And fight a superhero war. Simple, funny and true. What more could one ask from a poetry collection for any age? Chast, of course, is known for her New Yorker illustrations and her National Book Award-finalist graphic novel, "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?" Her illustrations here are classic Chast, which I think of as "the art of anxiety." Lots of squiggly worry lines and eyeballs in a state of permanent, panicked dilation. Children and their minders will find much to giggle over together in "No Fair! No Fair!" I've always been partial to books that do not sugarcoat childhood. After all, kids and adults and field hockey players and penguins will always find something to complain about. How nice to find a bevy of new children's books that acknowledge we are, indeed, a world of Mortimers. No fair! MICHAEL IAN BLACK is an actor and the author of the picture book "A Child's First Book of Trump:
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [November 13, 2016]
Review by Booklist Review
It's time for Granny to knit new winter sweaters for her gigantic family, but every time she tries to get started, her grandchildren make a mess of things, unraveling her balls of yarn and getting their wet, grubby mouths all over her projects. There's only one thing to do: leave! So she packs up her supplies and heads out to the woods with a resounding, Leave me alone! Finally at peace in the calm forest, she finds a cozy spot to knit, but soon a bear family comes along and interrupts her yet again. Leave me alone! she shouts, and she departs to find a quieter location, but at every turn, she encounters an obstacle. Brosgol infuses her fairy tale-like story with a hefty dose of humor, thanks to her fantastic page turns and comedic timing, culminating in the surprising, otherworldly solution to Granny's problem. Warm, jewel-toned artwork and cartoonish details add to the warm atmosphere, and the sweet ending, when the woman finally returns home, is as cozy as a new sweater.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Graphic novelist Brosgol's (Anya's Ghost) first picture book opens in a traditional folk tale setting as a Russian grandmother in a tiny cottage struggles to finish her winter knitting. She has dozens of grandchildren, and they swarm all over her yarn: "Her grandchildren were very curious about her knitting.... Could you eat it? Could you make your brother eat it?" Brosgol's cartooning delivers laughs throughout; here, a girl in a kerchief stuffs a ball of yarn into a baby's mouth as three boys chase another ball with sticks. Fed up, the old woman takes off (after cleaning the house thoroughly, of course), bellowing, "Leave me alone!" The cry is repeated in the forest, in the mountains, and even on the moon, where aliens inspect her "with handheld scanners that went 'beep boop.' " She finds peace at last in the black void on the other side of a wormhole, where she finishes her knitting. The fizzy collision of old-fashioned fairy tale elements with space-age physics is delightful, and even the most extroverted readers will recognize that sometimes you just need a little space. Ages 4-7. Agent: Judith Hansen, Hansen Literary. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Brosgol incorporates folktale elements in her amusing story of an old woman in search of a quiet place to knit. Fleeing her too small house overrun with too many energetic grandchildren, she packs her needles and yarn and heads for the mountains. Unfortunately, she can't find an undisturbed spot. Hungry bears, curious mountain goats, and little green moon-men provoke her to shout: "Leave me alone!" Climbing through a wormhole, she discovers a dark and quiet place to complete 30 little sweaters. Then she crawls through a wormhole that leads to her house, where 30 grandchildren rush to meet her. Peasant clothing, wooden houses, and village scenes create a setting reminiscent of the Brothers Grimm or of Fiddler on the Roof. The humorous illustrations depict the determined woman knitting in improbable circumstances as she climbs ever higher. A huge bear looms above her, curious "about what she might taste like." Mountain goats frolic with balls of yarn they consider tasty snacks. Green creatures investigate the woman with handheld scanners while she sits on a chair-shaped moon rock. Brosgol is a master of facial expressions, using eyes, mouth, and forehead lines to indicate the old woman's thoughts and emotions. VERDICT This offbeat tale will please readers who appreciate subtle humor, especially those who crave some time alone. A good choice for collections needing to bolster their supply of humorous titles.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University Library, Mankato © 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 Horn Book Review
Graphic novelist Brosgol (Anyas Ghost, rev. 7/11) makes an impressive picture-book debut with this inventive story about an old womans quest to knit in peace. The tale begins with traditional narrative trappings: Once there was an old woman. She lived in a small village in a small housewith a very big family. Overrun by her thirty rambunctious grandchildren and determined to finish her important knitting project before winter, the dour woman packs her things and takes off, shouting, Leave Me Alone! shown in a huge speech balloon. Brosgols richly colored illustrations in an autumnal palette also place us in familiar folktale territory, combining an early-twentieth-century Eastern European vibe with a contemporary sense of humor. Alas, things are no better for the disgruntled woman in the deep, dark forest (curious bears) or in a mountainside cave (yarn-eating goats). Leave Me Alone! she hollers again and again. In a surprisingly surreal double-page spread, she trudges up to the mountaintop and straight onto the surface of the rising moon. Fleeing a crowd of little green moon-men, she enters a wormhole and finds solitude in the void on the other side. After six striking pages of white-line drawings on solid-black backgrounds -- the void -- her knitting project (thirty little sweaters) is complete, and all ends happily in a satisfyingly circular way. Repetition and patterned storytelling ground the out-of-this-world elements for a thoroughly entertaining adventure. kitty flynn (c) Copyright 2016. 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.
