Parts (Picture Puffins)
Ages 5^-8. The poetry doesn't quite scan, but that's more than balanced by Arnold's unusual topic and his hilarious illustrations. A pop-eyed youngster is having a hard time. He seems to be falling apart. After losing a few hairs, he thinks he's going bald; his belly button lint is his stuffing coming out; "a chunk of something gray and wet" from his nose is none other than a piece of his brain; and a loose tooth puts him into shock. "Quite soon I'll be in pieces in / A pile without a shape. / Thank goodness Dad keeps lots and lots / And lots of masking tape." The gross factor is a key ingredient here, with Arnold exploiting it nicely in bold, comical illustrations that catch the full-blown anxieties of the imaginative narrator. When Mom and Dad intervene, little boy and audience alike breathe a sigh of relief. A zany, ultimately reassuring take on something that may indeed be a child's bugaboo.Stephanie Zvirin--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.