Product Description

A busy girl recounts all of the things she has to do in a day as she tries to find time to read.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #213935 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-01
• Released on: 2004-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

From Publishers Weekly
There's more to this clever book than initially meets the eye. A busy girl struggles from sun-up to sundown to squirrel away time to read, but something always seems to get in the wayAa shower ("Careful! Don't get the book wet!"), a breakfast of cereal ("Who left this book in the fridge?"), etc. Sure enough, by nightfall she still hasn't managed to finish her book. Charlip's (Sleepytime Rhyme) diverting tale strikes just the right bemused note with its step by step, don't-stop-to-take-a-breath descriptions of mundane activities. Hand-lettered text befits the first-person rendition, while Muth's (Gershon's Monster, reviewed in Children's Religion Forecasts, Aug. 28) witty watercolors amplify and extend the humor inherent in each deadpan passage. He gives the tale additional punch by varying the pace from full-page scenes to frame-by-frame snapshots and by casting the main characters as an intriguingly multicultural extended family. Readers will also enjoy the recurring visual pun as they spy the very same book they're reading in the hand of the girl, and the same page they're looking at almost every time she manages to sneak a peek at it. Ages 6-up. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-In excruciating detail, a young girl describes how busy her day is and why she can't finish reading this book. In just one page, she tells readers that she "-got out of bed, put on my bathrobe, put on my slippers, went to the bathroom, let the shower run-got out of my bathrobe, got out of my slippers, got out of my pajamas. Then I-took a shower." So it goes. Is it any wonder she can't find the time to read? The action takes place from sunup until bedtime, though nothing much happens. The true charm of the book lies in its tongue-in-cheek presentation and lively watercolor illustrations. Muth has created a multiracial, multigenerational array of friends and family who surround the unnamed protagonist. Careful observers will be tickled to note that the girl's open book always mirrors the pages they are reading. A light, original diversion.
Roxanne Burg, Thousand Oaks Library, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 5-8. This utterly charming (and more than a little surreal) picture book is winsome in text and art. As our young heroine wakes up, with this very book at her side, she begins the morning ritual of getting out of bed, getting dressed, making breakfast, and so on. She gets to school (barely) and then goes home to the ever-longer list of stuff she needs to do (babysit, do homework, call friends). The book is by her side, usually open to the very page we are on. A clock in most of the pictures tracks the day, as our heroine's multiracial and multigenerational family engages comfortably in the business of daily living. Humorous visual asides (a green stuffed animal that turns up in a dinner bowl) will produce giggles. And the girl does, of course, finish the book, as we see on the last page. The catalog of daily activities will have children totting up their own. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Read it, it's worth the time.
The little schoolgirl in this story leads such a busy life that she will, never, ever, ever, ever have enough time to read her book (which is, cleverly enough, "this" book - the same book which you are reading). As she leads us through the many things she has to do during her day - from putting on mittens to calling all her friends to tell them that she is worried that she will never have enough time to read her book - her family members wander in and out of the story commenting and offering random bits of advice. Aside from her father, none of her other family members are named although they all live together in the same house.

The family is a wonderfully eclectic mix with members ranging from elders to a baby and including at least three different races, and the scenes where they sit down to a busy dinner together are a real joy to behold. This is a great book for showing the different shapes that a happy family can take - and for showing that dads can cook! - without belaboring the point.