How to Clean Your Room in 10 Easy Steps [Hardcover]

Jennifer Larue Huget (Author), Edward Koren (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: May 11, 2010 | Age Range: 4 - 8 years

Got a messy room? No problem!

This simple, laugh-out-loud picture-book guide to cleaning your room is sure to make picking up a snap. Here is the first rule: Always wait until your mother hollers, "GET UP THERE AND CLEAN YOUR ROOM—NOW!" using all three of your names. Once she does, you'd better get moving. From dumping out drawers and dividing stuff into piles to arranging all eight zillion of your stuffed animals, here's the kind of advice on room tidying that everyone can relate to.

With funny, direct text by Jennifer LaRue Huget and amazing illustrations by New Yorker artist Edward Koren, this book is sure to appeal to messy kids everywhere.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2—A girl demonstrates how to get results and have fun at the same time. Dusting can be done with a sock, dust bunnies can be hidden away in a dresser drawer with the candy wrappers ("You know, for crafts"), and unwanted and broken toys can be wrapped up and given to a younger sibling. The things that you love should be shoved into the closet with the door secured tightly. "Watch out. It might explode." The tongue-in-cheek humor in Koren's pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations and Huget's writing will be appreciated by children who are responsible for cleaning their own rooms. They may not have a pet cat and dog helping them as Ann Erica Kelly does, but her story lightens the burden of this most dreaded chore.—Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, AB, Canada
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

Huget and New Yorker cartoonist Koren combine their considerable talents in this amusing how-to that will be familiar to any parent. Welcome to my room, says the young narrator. It's clean at the moment, and she is about to show how to get your room in the same shape. First, mess it up. The next spread makes fine use of Koren's scratchy ink-and-watercolor art (with the emphasis on scratchy), as toys, clothes, pictures, and pets are tossed and tumbled through the room. The tongue-in-cheek tone of the text captures salient elements of cleanup, as when Mother suggests getting rid of old stuffed animals like that silly rabbit missing body parts. The narrator hugs the bunny tight, proclaiming it her favorite. When Mother's gone, toss it back onto the heap and forget about her. There's a bit of an audience problem here. It's older kids (and adults!) who'll find this the funniest, but get it in the right hands, and hilarity will ensue. Grades K-3. --Ilene Cooper

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 4 - 8 years
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Schwartz & Wade (May 11, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375844104
• ISBN-13: 978-0375844102
• Product Dimensions: 0.4 x 10.2 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #859,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Any collection interested in fun whimsical stories will enjoy this! August 17, 2010

By Midwest Book Review

Format:Hardcover

Jennifer LaRue Huget and Edward Koren's How to Clean Your Room in Ten Easy Steps gives a whimsical account of how to clean a room, from never lifting a finger until a mother yells using all three of your names to carefully arranging all stuffed animals on a bed. Any collection interested in fun whimsical stories will enjoy this!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Even my 5 year old finds this funny! October 5, 2010

By Laura Madsen

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This shows you how NOT to clean your room and adds humor to the tasks that needs to be done by every child. My 5 year old enjoys this book a lot and it makes her laugh while demonstrating with irony what NOT to do when trying to clean your room.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Very very funny- but probably for older kids? June 28, 2010

By J. Prather TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I thought this was a very funny look at a chore most kids can't stand. Every grown up who reads it will remember the time when you were a kid and tried to shove all the trash in the closet, but then your mom caught you... There lies the problem though, because I think your'e going to have to be at least 7 or 8 to get the humour in this book. I don't think this book is teaching kids to lie or misbehave, it's all done with tongue firmly in cheek and I think the right kid will just find it hilarious. Kid's always like reading about kids who misbehave just so they can point out everything they're doing wrong and laugh at them about it!

The illustrations aren't my favorite - there are no warm and fuzzy characters here, but when you look at it in context with the crazy humour, then they kind of make sense. This book won't be for everybody, but if you've got a kid with a quirky sense of humour who hates to clean his room, then this might be just the thing to give him or her so you can share a laugh together.

13 of 20 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars I'd rather give it a "0" June 1, 2010

By Beccaboney VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Ok, so if you've read my other reviews of children's books for 3-7 year olds, you'd know I am absolutely crazy for kids books. But not just any kids' books - I am pretty particular about the books I read my kids: they usually have people being nice to one another, learning lessons in a gentle way, maybe actually learning something useful for their lives, and we love it to be funny too. This book is just plain AWFUL!

The book starts off with a child (although the illustrations make the girl look more like a monster in my opinion) in her very clean and straightened room. The author tells her to mess it up "the messier the better". Then step 1. says "Always wait until your mother hollers (for you to clean your room), then pretend you are too busy to hear".

What? We are teaching our 4-8 year old kids to lie already?

Then it says "Dump everything in the middle of your room, plunk yourself down and braid your doll's hair until someone comes up to scream at you again".

What? Kids should make things messier first, then wait to be yelled at?

It gets so much worse....scooping up dust bunnies and putting them in your drawer because your mom never looks there, dump half-finished cups of milk in the hamper unless they are moldy, then put them under your bed....give old pizza crusts to your sister....it goes on and on.

I have a novel idea: how about writing a book about cleaning your room in a fun way, not mischievious. What would be so wrong with that? If I could I would burn this book, instead I will donate it to the library and hope no one ever checks it out. It's awful, not funny like it was planning on being, doesn't teach your children anything but deception, and has terrible illustrations.... I think it's the worse children's book I have ever read. Read more ›

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what expected December 30, 2011

By Jennifer Moon

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

this book was not what I expected. Read the description very carefully before buying. It is not a motivational book with actual tips for kids. It is actually the opposite. Read description carefully.