Customer Reviews

Billy Tartle in Say Cheese!

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Mike Townsend brings childrens' image-based storytelling to a new level. His ability to capture the rich nuances of the child-mind is unparalleled. His colorful and imaginative story-telling makes it difficult to name him anything less than a genuine artist whose craft and passion have combined to create a guiding star in the night sky of children's literature. Bravo to you Mike Townsend. Bravo!

This book borrows elements of anime, old comics, graphic novels, and a little Simpsons mischief (though not nearly as mischievous or cynical as as ole Bart), yet manages to deliver one of the freshest looks in kids picture books. The plot concerns the school picture today, including the preparation (a haircut) and the aftermath (or perhaps "aftermouth," because the school kids and adults all have brightly colored teeth on photo day), but the plot is really secondary to the fast pace, bright colors, gags, subplotted daydreams, and general goofy quality of this engaging book.

It takes a little while to get into the groove. It oepens with BIlly looking rather frog-like, with empty black circle for eyes, and a cavernous black mouth pressing a squeaking squeeze toy and worrying that he might miss Supermonkey. I had to read that first page a few times before I was convinced that I'd read it correctly. Billie walks robot-like across two pages, chanting "Supermonkey." Is he in some kind of strange trance? What's with all the yellow and orange panelled pictures, and the "amateur" drawing? The next two pages explode with panels: 11 of them, flush with jokes, quickly shifting emotions, and the answer to the Supermonkey puzzle...It's a TV show.

The action moves swiftly, and Townsend turns a visit to the barber into a roller-coaster ride of daydreams, puns, and funny verbal and visual jokes (e.g., talking ears, Billy saving a cat threated by three Ninja bears), all while Billy is getting his haircut. When gushing, New agey barber Ken gives Billie some suckers, he gets an idea about how to make picture day a really memorable one.

Adults don't fare quite so well in the book--they're farely conventional. Billy's teacher has the odious task of prepping the boys and girls for their pictures. She tells one boy to take his finger out of his nose, unintentionally helps Billy with his picture plot, and tells at everyone to stop playing tie tag. There's a happy, smiling conclusion (albeit with colored teetch), and this fun, somewhat strange little book closes. I like Michael Townsend's daring, and his ability to slowly draw you into his unique perspective. While not as clever as the "Mr. Lunch" books, Townsend accuarately conveys the spirit and feelings of the mid-elementary school crowd.

This is an awesome book. Our oldest child who is almost 5-years old loves it, and wants us to read it every night before bedtime. Caution to those who would not appreciate their children referring to certain things as "boring", for Billy makes reference to this a couple different times in the story. However, if you can look past that, the story is very cleverly written and a fun read for the little ones as well as for Mom and/or Dad.