The Best Saturday Ever!

September 1, 2013
With a storm rolling in and the power shorting out, a young boy finds a new source of entertainment in Cook's salute to the imagination. A hard rain has put the kibosh on going outside, and a downed tree has cancelled the wonderful world of electronics. "Oh Robbie, come on. / Just wait, you'll be fine. / Sit down and start thinking. / You'll have fun in no time!" So Robbie makes himself a costume--always a good first step--and then lets his brain and toys take over as he pilots a spaceship, saves the city from monsters, fights aliens, joins the circus. It's kind of like a Nike ad: Just do it. There are no great secrets here, just letting imagination run wild. Cook's forcibly rhymed text is not going to set any reader's hair on fire, with its lock-step predictability and clunky scansion. Sward's artwork shifts all about, from spooky dark to slimy monsters to a clown who is more terrifying than all the rest of the beasts and aliens combined. Then the sun comes out, the power returns, and Robbie heads outside, where he can still let his imagination roam. Low-key but amiable; still, the terrible verse makes this a no-go. (Picture book. 4-8)

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February 1, 2014

K-Gr 3-A dreary rainy day, no electricity, and a vivid imagination lead a boy to several fanciful adventures. The weekend is here, but it's too stormy for Robbie to go outside, so his mother encourages him to find something to do in his room until the weather improves. The youngster entertains himself by imagining he is a superhero, the captain of a rocket ship, and a ringmaster in a circus. He enjoys himself so much that he's actually sorry when the sun comes out. In rhyming couplets that don't always scan well, the narrative has a stilted cadence: "I have a cool red phone/I keep inside a secret place./It rings when there is danger/from behind its shiny case." The illustrations are done in the style of a graphic novel and fill the pages from edge to edge with dark, saturated colors and black outlines. The text appears in large circles throughout. Though the message is good, the delivery is not appealing, making this picture book an additional purchase.-Maryann H. Owen, Children's Literature Specialist, Mt. Pleasant, WI

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