It's Only Stanley

Starred review from January 12, 2015
Stanley the beagle is a diehard fixer-upper, and for some reason he likes doing noisy chores in the middle of the night. One by one, he wakes up every member of the alliteratively named Wimbledon family, from parents Wilma and Walter to their four children. Agee (Terrific) establishes a rhythmic word-and-picture formula in which Walter goes downstairs on six separate occasions, checks on Stanley (always in a wordless spread), and reports back to his restless family: “The Wimble-
dons were sleeping./ It was later than before./ When Wendy heard a clanking sound,/ Below her bedroom floor./ ‘That’s very odd,’ said Walter./ Then they heard another clank!/ ‘It’s only Stanley,’ Walter said./ ‘He fixed the oil tank.’ ” Visual hints suggest that the industrious dog has more on his mind than home improvement, and rereadings shed light on Stanley’s master plan to transform the Wimbledons’ steeply pitched Victorian house into a rocket. As in Milo’s Hat Trick, Agee appeals to connoisseurs of the absurd, and he shapes ridiculous developments into a tightly composed and satisfying picture book. Ages 5–8. Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties.

January 1, 2015
The Wimbledon family-mother, father, four children, a cat, and Stanley, a brilliantly inventive beagle-have a sleepless night. One by one, mother Wilma, daughters Wendy and Wanda, and sons Willie and Wylie rouse father Walter to investigate one peculiar sound after another. It turns out that "It's only Stanley," noisily at work cooking, fixing drains, the oil tank and an old TV, and occasionally howling at the moon. (Beagles are famous for baying.) But Stanley has a plan that will give them an adventure in near space-a trip to the moon in their house, now a rocket ship thanks to his romantic determination and his inventive genius. Agee's rhyming verse is set out in a rhythmic pattern that concludes each stanza after a wordless spread that illustrates Stanley's activities, heightening the humor and the humans' befuddlement. Each character has a distinct personality and is easily identifiable in the humorous washes-especially the worker dog, busily creating an almighty mess throughout the house. Stanley's mechanical inventions are full of detail that will captivate young tinkerers. Readers and listeners will enjoy the adventure and know what Stanley is up to before the final climactic sequence. Fun-just plain fun. (Picture book. 6-8)

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January 1, 2015

PreS-Gr 2-Agee applies his trademark humor to a wacky new picture book, featuring Stanley, a beagle whose odd nocturnal activities keep his family from sleeping. The single-minded canine drives the Wimbledons crazy one night, howling at the moon, fixing the oil tank, repairing an old TV, and making catfish stew, before finally revealing his master plan. Written in verse, the text serves up plenty of laughs, though a few rhymes seem a bit forced ("It was late as it can get, /When Wanda heard a buzzing noise/That made her all upset."). Agee's signature cartoon style is ideal for the narrative, and the expressions of the various characters, from the endearingly eccentric, steadfast Stanley to the beleaguered Wimbledons, are simple yet endlessly entertaining. The responses of the put-upon family cat in particular will provoke plenty of giggles (for instance, it's seen slurping at the catfish stew on a spread, then turning green on the following one). Sound effects ("SPLISH SPLASH," "KAPOW!") add to the zany humor, making this one perfect for read-alouds. The out-of-this-world but amusing conclusion is appropriately odd and surprising. Agee knows what his young readers want-plain silliness-and he delivers. Hilarious.-Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2014
Preschool-G *Starred Review* Agee and his simple, droll watercolors return with a work that manages to be absurdist, alarming, andjust when you least expect itpoignant. It begins with a husband and wife awakened by a noise. The man investigates, but it's just their nondescript little beagle, Stanley, howling at the moon. Back to bed, until the Wimbledons' first child arrives complaining of basement clanging. Dad checks it out; it's only Stanley on a stepladder, weirdly modifying the oil tank. Well, back to bed again, until the next child arrives with a beef about a weird smell: Stanley, in the kitchen with tubes and beakers, is mixing up something strange. And so it goes, child after child, complaint after complaint, with the expressionless Stanley continuing his bizarro behavior and technological tinkering. The Chris Van Allsburg stiffness is almost ominous when combined with the Edgar Allan Poe cadence: The Wimbledons were sleeping. / It was late as it could get, / When Wanda heard a buzzing noise / That made her all upset. The shocking twist is that Stanley has jiggered the house into a rocket, and the final rhyming word, moonremember how Stanley howled at it?is cleverly left unsaid, as the house lands on the moon, and Stanley holds paws with a cute pink moon-dog. Very strange, and very, very wonderful.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)