Customer Reviews

Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age

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Poor Ug. He knows there's a better world but his mum fights him on it and his dad isn't much help. Illustrations are wonderful and sense of humor is black. I think a clever child would enjoy this book but not the average kid. A child and parent would greatly enjoy reading this book together, I think. Educational without being pedantic.

This really not a children's book, even if it looks like one. It is playful and humorous and very intelligent without being pedantic or intellectual.

I've just come to the painful and shocking discovery that I've never given Raymond Briggs much respect. To my credit, I never had any real reason to until now. The only Raymond Briggs creation with which I was familiar was his seemingly ubiquitous picture book entitled, "The Snowman". I'm sure you've seen it. Published the same year as my birth that doggone story always depressed me as a little kid. I never really saw the point of it all. Boy makes snowman. Snowman befriends boy. Snowman dies a horrible melty death at the end. Ugh. But hold that thought! "Ug" was just the storybook to rescue me from my unhealthy anti-Briggs mentality. With the discovery of "Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age", I've come to the slow realization that perhaps Mr. Briggs does not begin and end with "The Snowman". In this odd little book that seemingly draws on everything from Winsor McCay to the far more contemporary Chris Ware (there's more than a drop of "Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Boy On Earth" here) we meet a kid who yearns for nothing more than a comfy pair of trou.

Ug lives with his ma and pa (Dugs and Dug, respectively) in the Stone Age. Ug is a bit saddened by the fact that his pants are completely made out of stone. He keeps believing that there must be something better out there. Pants that are softer than sandstone. Food that doesn't have to be eaten raw. Homes that are not caves. The more Ug dreams, the more his mother attempts to squash his resolve. And when, at long last, he and his father seem to be on the right path, a lack of certain tools bars their final triumph.

The book is written more like a graphic novel than a picture book. Here we have voice bubbles and the occasional footnote. I've probably never seen a picture book that used the word, "anachronism" more often than this puppy. The book is undoubtedly odd, there's no question. Briggs has an odd off-kilter sense of humor that serves him quite nobly in this endeavor. It's certainly a book for older children, though. And it occurs to me that books such as this are just begging for squeamish adults to get angry about. The mom walks about without a shirt (it's really not that noticeable, but some people might object). The fam eats raw meat with bloody regularity. And then there's the rather depressing final picture in the tale. Kids yearning for a vindicated Ug to prove to the world that he's right will take no comfort in the image of our now adult hero cave painting above the graves of his parents. But then, Briggs has always sorta been a fan of the letdown ending. "The Snowman" should've tipped me off that this book would end similarly. Only in this case, it doesn't mean you dislike the rest of the tale. It's just ... odd.

I doubt you've really seen a picture book like this before. It's incredibly wordy and more than a twinge depressing. Yet Ug's a likable enough fellow and spending a whole book with him is a pleasure. I wouldn't go handing this tale to anyone who you fear is stodgy or uptight. And kids will certainly dig the format, even if they don't understand all the words and references. Possibly the most amusing caveman picture book available to consumers in this day and age.

Ug just wants a better way to live his life, but the prehistoric boy genius can't figure out how. He invents the wheel but finds no purpose in it, he discovers fire can cook food - which other cave folk find a disgusting concept - and he longs for warm clothing. How can a boy genius survive among the primitives? A fun cartoon style lends to this zany tale and will invite even reluctant readers to learn.

Am buying it in English for the sake of my almost 4 year old grandchildren. It is a wonderful "Why" book and a better "Why Not?" book equipped with the most restrictive of adult perspectives. The Stone Age tale is interspersed with modern references which are numbered. At the bottom of the page the references are identified as "anachronisms". I am hoping they use the same word in the English original. I find myself wishing that the same device was used with movies like Lion King. Our little boy twin is very interested in death. It would be helpful for him to know that having the father lion speak after death to his son was artistic license and does not really occur - at least not exactly like that. The book is droll. Sleeping under a stone blanket may deserve the warning: "This is pretend, don't let a heavy slab of rock fall on you just because you're tired!"

This is a fun look at a boy's struggle with his surroundings. Ug is constantly wanting more out of his life-softer trousers, a warm place to live, etc. Ug's insatiable curiousity drives his parents crazy, but his dad tries to encourage Ug. The book is funny and wistful at the same time. The ending is thought-provoking and a bit melancholy-what has Ug achieved in the end?