Billy Bloo Is Stuck in Goo

May 22, 2017
Never mind how that giant heap of green goo got there, or why little Billy Bloo ignored the sign (on the title page) that reads “Whatever you do... do not go in the goo!” Now he’s stuck and so is everyone who comes along to extract him, an oddball assemblage that ends up including “Four acrobats, the cowgirl too/ the octopus, the wizard (who/ just conjured up a talking ewe)/ the pirate, and the noble crew.” (The crew consists of a queen and 17 loyal knights.) Everyone is unwilling to give up the struggle, but even the queen can’t help wondering, “What happens if I need the loo?” Suddenly, a startled octopus inadvertently frees everyone—briefly. Burach’s (I Am Not a Chair!) loosey-goosey illustrations contrast the glistening, almost three-dimensional goo with a flattened, high-energy cartoon cast that looks as though it sprang directly from a child’s imagination. And Hamburg’s (Monkey and Duck Quack Up!) freewheeling verse—which includes lots of “goo” rhymes and direct addresses to readers—gives readers plenty to linger (and laugh) over. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Jennifer De Chiara, Jennifer De Chiara Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Lara Perkins, Andrea Brown Literary.

April 15, 2017
Altruism runs amuck--or at least into muck--in this glutinous outing.In rollicking rhymed verse that really begs to be read aloud, an entire cavalcade of would-be rescuers, from a pirate to a queen with 17 nobles, joins a careless lad mired in a large and expanding mound of glutinous green glop. "Dear friends, how very kind of you / to try and get me out of goo. / I do admire all your pluck. / Just thought I'd point out... / I'M STILL STUCK!!!" In his rambunctious cartoon illustrations Burach miscounts those "nobles." Still, he not only nicely captures the frantic slapstick of the gooey goings-on, but also steps out of what is still, sad to note, the picture-book mainstream by depicting Billy and the other human members of the popeyed cast, except for a wizard and a purple acrobat, as brown-skinned. The goo itself has a pleasingly disgusting and shiny look to it. A mouse's sneeze at last causes a large pink octopus to jump out with all the rest in tow--but Billy loses a shoe, which everyone else immediately jumps back in to fetch. Hamburg leaves readers with a question: "What would you do?" Besides chortling at such gleeful, errant nonsense, that is. (Picture book. 5-7)

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