Even More Parts
Grade 1-3 - The boy fromParts(1997) andMore Parts(2001, both Dial) returns. Here, he is preparing to go to school. Each page features a phrase that includes an idiom, along with a humorous illustration of the child literally living up to that particular expression. For example, for "I lost my head," the headless youngster wanders around with arms outstretched looking for his missing body part, which is partially concealed behind a chair. Along the bottom of the page, his toys illustrate additional figures of speech ("It makes my head spin," "I laughed my head off," "My head is in the clouds"). Created with colored pencils and watercolor washes, the bright, manic artwork features pop-eyed characters drawn with a loose, squiggly line. The rhyming, which has always been a weak point in the books, is kept to a minimum while the chaos is kept at the previous high level. Arnold's art manages to keep the gross-out factor reasonable while producing plenty of laughs. Even libraries without the first two titles will find this a fun choice for sharing aloud and for tempting independent readers.- Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha's Public Library, WICopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.