Oops!
Grade 2–4—Published in the same large format and featuring the same family as365 Penguins(Abrams, 2006), this book attempts to demonstrate the law of unintended consequences. The family's struggle to catch a flight is complicated when a bar of errant soap flies out of their apartment window and becomes the impetus for an ever-increasing and chaotic chain of disasters. As they dodge; run; and ride a subway, bus, limo, bike, and scooter in a Chaplin-esque flurry to get to the airport, there are epic disasters around them that result one from the other. Two bears that escaped from the zoo appear on each spread and form a leitmotif throughout the bedlam. The text ostensibly narrates the family's saga, ignoring the causes and results of the tumult that the art is depicting. Because so much is happening in the bold but busy graphic illustrations, it is often difficult to pinpoint exactly what the consequences are. The book provides a "chain of catastrophes" explanation with numbered thumbnails at the end but even with this prompt, it is difficult to put all the pieces together when paging back and forth. Older children might be intrigued enough to pore over this book, but the pandemonium, coupled with the oblique text, may be too puzzling for younger readers to decipher.—Marge Loch-Wouters, La Crosse Public Library, WI(c) Copyright 2010.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.