From Publishers Weekly
From the team that produced Mommy Go Away! comes a story for slightly older readers. Robbie yearns for a snake, but his mother won't grant his wish. She's unsuccessful at mollifying him with the usual parenting tacticsAgiving him a book about snakes, taking him to the reptile section of a museum, stopping at a pet storeAbut her refusal turns out to have a silver lining. Robbie, drawing on his imagination, conjures up a zoo of snakes from his mother's shoelace, his sister's jump rope and his father's leather belt. "I still think they are scary," says Mommy at the conclusion. "That's why you need me," Robbie sagely replies. Jonell understands the passions of boyhood ("Why does the snake eat the mouse headfirst?" asks Robbie with a sweet smile as Mommy "looks slightly sick"), and her observations harbor a dry wit that parents will recognize. Mathers's crayoned, stick-figure characters (placed in more detailed settings than in Mommy Go Away!), effectively telegraph the story's more complicated action and emotion. For example, after Mommy denies him a snake at the pet shop, the boy's simple dot eyes register utter despondency as they peer over the edge of a bus window. But while adults will appreciate the sophistication underlying Mathers's work, some audience members may dismiss the style she adopts here as babyish. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2AWhen young Robbie decides he needs a snake, his squeamish mother is reluctant to comply. She reads him books about reptiles, and then takes him to a museum and a pet store, but still insists that he cannot have a real snake until he is grown up with a house of his own. Robbie, however, is resourceful; he finds his own snakes in the form of a shoelace, a jump rope, and a belt, as well as a solution that satisfies them both. This book is a true commentary on a loving parent-child relationship. The text is hand lettered and the oil-pastel illustrations look as though they were drawn by a gifted youngster who understands perspective and graphic design. Robbie and his mother are simple stick figures, yet their faces are filled with expression. The boy's creative spirit will win the applause of the many children who have unsuccessfully begged for a pet.AAngela J. Reynolds, West Slope Community Library, Portland, OR
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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