Customer Reviews

The Bomb That Followed Me Home (Rumpleville Chronicles)

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If it looks like a kid's book and can be read in ten minutes, it probably IS a kid's book, right? Not necessarily. The Bomb That Followed Me Home (Rumpleville Chronicles) (Rumpleville Chronicles) is a wicked little fusion of fairly tale and satire. Definitely not for any kids I know, except as prelude to a guided discussion of its odd concepts.

The story line is a bit "cracked:" a little bomb follows a boy home from school and he begs his parents to let him keep it. They say no ("A bomb's a big responsibility") and while they're trying to fob the bomb off on somebody else ("...the Department of Defense, the National Guard, and even the Weathermen ...") it does indeed make a mess of the house and prove Mom right. The family has a vendetta going with the neighbors, who speak in gibberish and show expansionist tendencies by letting their hedge overrun the property line; in the end, rather ambiguously, they "give" the bomb to the neighbors. Is that a gesture of friendship, or ... the KABOOM at the end of the book leaves a sickening uncertainly as to the outcome.

This is the first book I've read from the Rumpleville Chronicles, all of which apparently follow the fractured "fairy tale meets social commentary" theme. Author Cevin Soling packs a lot of satirical ideas into a few words. The illustrations by Steve Kille are action-packed and rich with sly details; don't miss the family portraits on the walls, or the crazed anarchist looking for his lost bomb, or the evil vegetation of the neighbors' hedge. The vehicle is somewhat slight for the satire to be sufficiently developed; I acknowledge that I'm starting far back in the field when it comes to "bomb humor" and it never quite brought me on board, but it's a clever little story and a feast for the eyes.

Linda Bulger, 2009

The Bomb That Followed Me Home is an unusual, twisted little tale that tells the story of a young boy who suddenly notices something is following him one day as he walks home from school. This wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary, except for one fact: The thing that is following the boy happens to be a bomb with a long, unlit fuse. The boy takes the bomb home to meet his parents, notices the bomb is cute, wants to cuddle with it, etc. He treats the bomb as a pet, and his parents also treat the situation the same way. They don't want the bomb in the house. They feel that their son will not be able to take care of it. They look for someone to adopt the bomb, but to no avail.

If this sounds like a bizarre book, that's because it was intended that way. The Bomb That Followed Me Home is part of a series of books known as the Rumpleville Chronicles- a collection of books known for its social commentary combined with the story line of a fairy tale. This book is aimed at the older, high- school age student who doesn't mind a little more unusual read and will possibly enjoy trying to decide what different symbols in the book represent.

The Bomb That Followed Me Home has an unusual title and this is part of what attracted me to it and convinced me to give it a read. The uniqueness of this book doesn't end, of course, with the title. It goes all the way through to the story and also to the illustrations. The illustrations actually bothered me a little at first because, while they feature drawings/paintings, they don't offer the bright, cheery illustrations found in books aimed at younger children. The illustrations found here feature darker colors and a dark mood. At first, they may not seem very eye- catching but there are actually some humorous things going on in these illustrations and those who bother to look more closely will know what I am talking about. Not only will you notice unusual things, but you will also realize that the darkness of the illustrations fits the mood of the book. Like I said, I didn't like this at first, but I slowly grew to appreciate this fact as I continued to read.

The Bomb That Followed Me Home is an interesting book that makes a useful tool to explain the concepts of satire, analogy, and more. It is a dark, twisted tale that seems completely ridiculous at first, but takes on greater meaning as you turn the pages. It scores high marks for originality and it ranks as one of the more interesting, darkly amusing tales I have read in a long time.

The potentially explosive (pun intended) nature of a story about a bomb following a young boy home from school is defused (pun again intended) by the lighthearted and humorous manner in which Soling delivers the story. When the main character realizes that a bomb is following him home from school, he tries to avoid it by cutting through the yard of his mean neighbors, the Greenspans. The rendition of how Mrs. Greenspan uses decipherable gibberish in her yelling of "Get off my lawn!" is enough to make the book worth reading. I can imagine how children will giggle when they read that passage or have it read to them.
Once the boy gets home and feels the bomb snuggling against his leg, he asks his mother if he can keep it. Of course she says no and so his dad asks government agencies such as the Department of Defense and the National Guard and then even the Weathermen if they want the bomb. All of these agencies decline so they are stuck with a homeless bomb that has now been called Rusty. Finally, they decide to give the bomb to the Greenspans and the story ends with their side dismantling a vengeance hedge that the Greenspans had planted many years ago.
The absurdity of the bomb that acts like a stray puppy takes what appears to be a ridiculous premise and turns it into a story that children will love. With the artwork exaggerated in a style that will attract and entertain young eyes, this book also manages to lampoon authority figures in a humorous way.

A young boy is returning home from school and notices that something is following him. Trying to escape it, he runs onto the lawn of his neighbor, Mrs. Greenspan, who begins shrieking in incomprehensible language that the boy understands to mean "Get off my lawn." The Greenspans are not very nice neighbors and had earlier planted hedges several feet on the property of the boy's parents. When the boy gets home, he sees that what was following him is not a puppy or a kitty but a bomb. Like any child, he wants to keep it, but his mother, knowing how kids are, doesn't want to be the one to change its fuse every day. And when Dad comes home, he simply says, "NO." They try to find the owner, but are unsuccessful. So, what will they do with it? And what will happen as a result?
Anyone who has ever come home with a pet and justified keeping it by saying, "It just followed me home," will surely be able to identify with this boy. But, of course, it isn't a pet; it's a bomb! I suspect that many people will find Cevin Soling's rather bizarre story, along with Steve Kille's surreal drawings, quite droll. Others very likely will not. The accompanying news release says, "The fairy tale format highlights the perverse morality of contemporary culture and foiled promises of 'happily ever after' endings." I have an idea that the entire concept, along with much of the humor and some of the references (the Weathermen were even asked if the bomb was theirs), would be lost on most children. This is the third book in the "Rumpleville Chronicles" series, the first two being The Jolly Elf, about a psycho killer who likes to sing at 4:00 in the morning, and The Disciples of Trotsky, about revolution time in Rumpleville. Several more are planned for the future. This kind of thing is not my preference, but parents will have to decide for themselves whether they feel that such books are appropriate for their children.

Okay, now this is one different book. Of course, I have to admit I have not read others in the Rumpleville Chronicles so I can only assume that these books are meant to be different. Sort of twisted stories, yes?
In this tale a bomb follows a little boy home, much like a dog or kitten might follow a child. The bomb wants to be adopted, but of course the little boy's mom and dad simply cannot allow a bomb to be part of their household. After all, the bomb makes such a mess, which the little boy would soon grow tired of cleaning up. Mom just cannot take on the extra work.
Dad tries to find a home for the bomb. He tries everywhere he knows that a bomb just might need to be, but has no luck. Now, the family has a couple for neighbors who are not very nice people. They are cranky a lot and tend to be very ugly most of the time to everyone. It is decided to give the bomb to them and at the end of the story you see a big KABOOM! The rest is left to your imagination, although dad is cutting down the hedges on his property that the mean neighbors had the nerve to put there in the first place. Why do you think he now feels the liberty to cut them down?The story definitely has a different ending than I ever imagined it would have, and this is exactly how it is suppose to be.
The illustrations in the book are very good, colorful and definitely help to bring the story to life.
Definitely a different storybook, not the norm, but one I am sure many children, and adults, will enjoy with a giggle, and perhaps relate to as well.

This fractured fairy tale is one in a series of politically charged picture books written by Cevin Soling and illustrated in brilliant, psychedelic colors by Steve Kille. Other books in the series include titles such as The Disciples of Trotsky and Kierkegaard's Dilemma, so it doesn't take a genius to know that there's more to this one than a cute little stray bomb that follows a boy home.

While the story at first seems simple, if a bit bizarre, it's the kind of thing that haunts you afterwards. What did that story really mean? Once I started asking myself questions, it was hard to stop - Why were the parents annoyed by the presence of the bomb, but not really alarmed? Why were they more worried about their own inconvenience than the potentially dire consequences? What significance was there in the fact that the unpleasant neighbor spoke gibberish, instead of English?

The Bomb That Followed Me Home would make an excellent discussion starter for upper elementary or middle school literature classes exploring irony and theme. (I successfully used it with a fifth grade class.) Taken a little deeper, the entire series of political fairy tales would make an excellent addition to a political science class in high school or college. (And as an added bonus, the illustrations are priceless!)

Strange but humorous little book. Written out like a children's picture book, it's pretty absurd. I am not sure how I feel about it really. Yes, it was funny in some places, but also a little frightening to think about in others. I think for fact that a kid could mistake this for a children's book, and that could be confusing.

What do you get when you take a well-worn story concept, twist its tale, and add zany, bold illustrations to it? You get "The Bomb that Followed Me Home," the third book in the series of Fairly Twisted Fairy Tales. Instead of a dog following a child home, the author changes it to a bomb. After first trying to avoid it, the child decides it's "the cutest bomb I had ever seen" and wants to keep it. The story follows much the same path as the usual story of a child wanting to keep a stray "animal" but, of course, this story has some new elements (apart from the "animal" being a bomb, not a dog). The author pokes fun at a couple of government agencies as well as the mean neighbors next door.

I loved the illustrations for this book. They were the first things that struck me as soon as I opened the front cover. They are bold and colorful and thoroughly delightful. The story is amusing with the unusual take on an otherwise ordinary theme. 5 stars.

This is a story of a stray bomb that follows a boy home. The bomb hopes to find a home with said boy and he 'takes' it home, crossing the lawn of the grumpy old neighbor, Mrs Greenspan. Her rantings/gibberish are 'translated' by the boy and this part really tickled me "Bluagh!!! Urgoakjfa! Rougaujklb!!!" - "Get off my lawn! I am completely unstable and might burst a blood vessel!!!"

The whole story is silly, yet it also pokes fun at authority figures - no one, not even the Department of Defence etc is interested in taking possession of the stray bomb, who by now has been named "Rusty". So the boy's parents decide that the best solution is to find a new home for Rusty themselves!

The illustrations are bright and cheerful and enhance the comic absurdity of the story.

THE BOMB THAT FOLLOWED ME HOME is one of the most refreshingly funny and biting bits of satire to appear this year. Cleverly conceived and written by Cevin Soling, illustrated with hugely imaginative graphics by Steve Killie and designed by Mark Ohe, this little book is far more than an entertaining tale of a boy who is followed home by a round long-fused bomb, a situation that raises questions of social matters such as contemporary views of 'weapons of mass destruction', security forces to alert in the event of such an incident, family relationships, and neighborhood malfunctions.

This is an example of how wise minds can piece together fragments of world affairs and controversies and from them create characters who are not only believable in the context of the brief tale, but also symbols of more serious matters: comedy does indeed arise from drama and tragedy. But putting all that aside, THE BOMB THAT FOLLOWED ME HOME can simply be read and enjoyed as a sophisticated, well crafted tale purely for entertainment. Look inside and notice images of conflicted individuals in each of our lives and take pleasure in observing how this smart team of artists is addressing human foibles. This is a book of pure delight! Grady Harp, January 2009