17 Things I'm Not Allowed to do Anymore

Book Review

Publishers Weekly :

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The title is terrifically cheeky, and Carpenter (Fannie in the Kitchen) outdoes herself in these mixed-media illustrations. The unnamed heroine, who resembles a cross between Ramona Quimby and Eloise, generates the title list as a result of her free-spirited, rule-breaking notions. "I had an idea to staple my brother's hair to his pillow," accompanies a photo-collage image of a stapler clamping onto a pillow corner, with a pen-and-ink drawing of the brother's sleeping face. Opposite, the boy, bound into his pillowcase, clings to his mother: "I am not allowed to use the stapler anymore." Offill (Last Things, for adults), making her children's book debut, follows with a litany of forbidden behavior encompassing everything from not being allowed to make ice cubes ("I had an idea to freeze a dead fly in the ice cube tray") to not being allowed "to talk (even a little bit) about beavers anymore" (because she "had an idea that [she] might run away to live with the kind and happy beavers"). Carpenter uses a fluid, elegant ink line to convey an impressive repertoire of expressions—she's equally adept at portraying a playground tattletale and a mom at the end of her rope. Kids will be intrigued by the pictures' playful sense of composition as well as the heroine's brazenness, but may be caught off-guard by the abrupt conclusion. Ages 4-8. (Dec.)

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School Library Journal :

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Starred Review. K-Gr 3–Ingenious artwork–a flawless marriage of digital imagery and pen-and-ink–is indisputably the focus of this winning title. In it, an incorrigible little girl lists all the bright ideas she's ever had and the various ways they've gotten her into trouble. From stapling her brother's hair to his pillow (no more stapler) to gluing his slippers to the floor (no more glue), her outside-the-box thinking attracts plenty of attention, all of it negative. Carpenter brings depth and texture to each spread by adjusting photo-realistic elements to scale and embedding them into the art. The effect is both striking and subtle–real wood grain, blades of grass, the chrome-plated details on classroom furniture–all are seamlessly integrated around a winsome cast of well-drawn characters. Some picture books are overconceptualized, overdesigned, and generally overdone, but this one is just about picture-perfect.–Catherine Threadgill, Charleston County Public Library, SC

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Offill's little narrator staples her brother's hair to his pillow, walks backward across the pedestrian crossing, and shows Joey Whipple her underpants when she does handstands in the schoolyard. Clear line-and-watercolor spreads add to the fun as the outrageous little rebel lies and boasts in class and washes her hands in the dog's dinner bowl. When she talks about freezing a dead fly in an ice cube, the picture shows her little brother drinking from a glass that contains an ice cube. She is unfazed by all the scowls she gets for acting up, though she says "I'm sorry" to her mom at the end. In the sweet pink picture of their warm embrace, however, she is plainly looking over her shoulder at the reader as she reaches for that stapler.

HazelRochman.

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