Review by Booklist Review
With a hardhat and a smile, Mr. Gilly strolls to work, where he blithely operates a wrecking-ball crane. As the endpapers foreshadow, a public library and city park have been planned, but first the old buildings must come down. Mr. Gilly rumbles to the site, where for four spreads he calmly wreaks havoc, described by the same exciting lines: "GO! Swing the ball, hit the wall! SMASH, SMASH, SMASH! Swing the ball, hit the wall, CRASH, CRASH, CRASH! CRUMBLE, TUMBLE, down goes brick. Is the demolition done? NO!" And repeat. Yaccarino's colorful two-dimensional cityscape just begs to be destroyed, but parents will be pleased that, once the buildings are reduced to rubble, the ever-pleasant Mr. Gilly switches to his bulldozer and makes a point of cleaning up the terrible mess he's made. It's a scene with undeniable parallels to a toddler's playtime--a loud, joyous demolition derby--that was made to be read aloud and will help the youngest readers channel their overabundant energy in a controlled, maybe even productive, manner.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
"Today some old buildings must come down so a new building can go up." Mr. Gilly, who starred as a trash collector in Trashy Town (rev. 3/99), is now employed as a demolition worker. Still clad in a blue plaid shirt and brown coveralls, Mr. Gilly happily gets the job done: "My crane may move at just a crawl, but watch out for my wrecking ball!" The creators follow the first book's format: left-hand pages feature the text's infectious onomatopoetic refrain: "GO! / Swing the / ball, hit the / wall! / SMASH, / SMASH, / SMASH! / Swing the / ball, hit the / wall! / CRASH, / CRASH, / CRASH!" At each stage of demolition, right-hand pages track the progress: "CRUMBLE, / TUMBLE, / down goes / wood. / Is the / demolition / done? / NO!" Eventually, Mr. Gilly switches from crane to bulldozer to clean up the mess of bricks, wood, glass, and stone. Yaccarino's color-block illustrations cleverly portray the wrecking ball's pendulum-like movement with bits of debris in orbit around it. An intermittently rhyming text and energetic page design build momentum and excitement. From the front endpapers, we know that a new library and park are "coming soon"; the back endpapers reveal the revitalized city block. With a preschooler-pleasing subject, this rollicking book will bring the house down. Kitty Flynn May/June 2020 p.115(c) Copyright 2020. 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
The cure for anyone suffering from insufficient amounts of smashing and crashing. Mr. Gilly hasn't missed a beat in the intervening 21 years between his debut in Trashy Town (1999) and this newest venture. Now, instead of driving the garbage truck, Mr. Gilly is "a demolition man." Some old buildings are due to come down, so as two pigeons watch, the rhyming work chant gets underway. "GO! / Swing the ball, hit the wall! / SMASH, SMASH, SMASH! / Swing the ball, hit the wall! / CRASH, CRASH, CRASH!" Brick, wood, glass, and stone must all give way when they encounter Mr. Gilly's wrecking ball. After that, Mr. Gilly maneuvers a bulldozer and cleans up his mess. Fans of his previous outing will find that the format of this book closely mirrors that of its predecessor. Not that they'll mind. Yaccarino manages to perfectly emulate his previous combination of retro shapes alongside bold, flat colors. The simplicity of the art and jaunty read-aloud potential of the text guarantees this both a lapsit success and a storytime favorite. Mr. Gilly presents white while his fellow citizens and construction workers display an array of different skin tones. Will young readers be able to get enough of this book? NO! (Picture book. 2-5) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
