M IS FOR MISCHIEF: An A to Z of Naughty Children
Starred Review. Carpenter, who made such a splash with her photograph-enhanced drawings in17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore, flexes her rascally aesthetic even more in this abecedary of bad behavior, and once again she produces a perfect visual expression of the collision of a testy temperament with polite society. When Offensive Oscar refuses to wash (Yesterday's oatmeal still clings to his skin), the pen-and-ink anti-hero is proffered what looks like a real bar of soap plus scrub brush from a real pair of hands; on the opposite page, a photo-collaged pair of splayed legs belonging to Grandmother adds comic verisimilitude to the claim that One sniff of his odor and others pass out. Ashman's (Babies on the Go) poetic portraits are packed with lots of tasty assonance and alliteration (Coco came to camp:/ Cracked a compass, smacked a lamp,/ Clogged a drain, cut a tarp./ Clobbered Curtis with a carp), and although they tend to adopt a tone that's more tut-tut than arch, their mock-serious mood serves as a fine foil to the visual ruckus. Ages 6–up.(July)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.