Sometimes You Barf

August 25, 2014
There’s nothing dignified or pleasant about vomiting, whether you’re the one doing it or simply in the area when it’s going on. For kids, the experience can be particularly upsetting, especially if one gets sick at school. Carlson (Zip It!) clearly knows all of this well, and she writes with empathy, reassurance, and a “them’s the breaks, kid” brand of humor as she follows a girl’s bout with the flu. “When that flu bug finally picks you... at first you really try not to barf...” she writes, as a giant green germ excitedly watches the girl’s face go deep green. “But it’s no use. You will barf. With any luck you will barf on your math test.” (Not only does Carlson show the girl doing just that, she plops her text on top of the torrent of puke pouring from the girl’s mouth.) But sickness is fleeting, Carlson explains, and her matter-of-fact writing and visual demonstrations that everything from aardvarks to leprechauns throw up, too, are a kind of medicine in themselves. Ages 5–8. Agent: Susan Cohen, Writers House.

August 1, 2014

K-Gr 3-A straight-talking young girl candidly discusses the fear and embarrassment of throwing up at school. When the flu bug strikes, she starts "to feel queasy," and all efforts to resist being sick prove futile. The aftermath include a janitor cleaning up the classroom and a respite in the nurse's office. Following a few days of rest and recuperation at home, the child returns to school, and the text reads, "No one will be mad at you for barfing....You have a great day, even though...you have to retake the math test you barfed on." Carlson's cartoon illustrations have just the right dose of gross detail. Endpapers reiterate the message that "Everyone barfs once in a while" and showcase dozens of green-faced animals, people, and even a snowman. Getting sick is never fun, but this reassuring and humorous book makes the experience much more tolerable.-Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2014
Everything you ever wanted to know about throwing up...and why you shouldn't be embarrassed. A little girl and her dog, Archie, take readers through this primer. Everybody barfs once in a while, she says, and illustrates her point with a veritable zoo of barfing animals, from aardvark to platypus. (In this book, when something or someone is about to barf, its face gets amusingly green, except for lizards, which get pink.) When a dog barfs, it gives plenty of warning-and after it does, you might find something you've been looking for, like a missing sock. The flu could cause you to barf, and if it happens at school, better hope you do it on a math test. It summons the janitor in a hazmat suit for cleanup with his "special barf cleanup machine" and sends you home to a barf bucket. Once you're eating solid food, it's back to school! Everybody welcomes you warmly, and it turns into a great day...except for that math test you have to retake. Maybe if you manage to barf again...? Another page of green-faced barfers-clown, caterpillar, leprechaun, etc.-and the little girl recaps. Archie barfs again, and she finds her other sock! Carlson's cartoons are as goofily gross as the text, but they exert a sort of cute fascination anyway. A delightful and helpful treatment of a somewhat taboo topic. (Picture book. 3-6)

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