Hilarious, funny illustrations. A little long, but worked well with preschoolers!

A little girl sets out on her way followed by her mother's reminder to mind her manners. The reminder leads the girl to several musings on how if she were a different animal she wouldn't have to mind her manners, but each time she finds something that's not nice about being that animal. When you're a pig you get to get dirty, but you smell. When you're a monkey you get to eat with your fingers, but you also have to eat grubs out of everyone's ears. The illustrations were created in photoshop by Dan Krall and belong to what I think of as the grotesque school of illustration with exaggerated caricatures for the people and plenty of gross-out appeal in the animal scenes. While I used this for my preschool group, I'd recommened saving it for grade school groups that will really appreciate the gross-outs and get the subtle humor of the reversing of manners.

Used for Here Comes Trouble Storytime - Preschool 1/19/10. ( )

School Library Journal 4/1/2009

K-Gr 2-Tired of minding her manners, a little girl yearns to follow the animal world's rules of civility. It is considered 'Very Rude' pigs to be clean, and they are admonished to get 'all nice and muddy' before bed. Not splashing in the bathtub is 'Atrocious, Disgraceful Conduct' for an elephant, and monkeys get in trouble for not eating with their fingers. However, there are drawbacks to consider: pigs smell, elephants are covered with flies, and monkeys 'have to eat grubs out of everyone's ears.' Krall's quirky Photoshop cartoons add to the subversive spirit with funny details such as a pig brushing his teeth with 'Dirt' paste. Donning a long-nosed, furry-footed costume, the child playfully posits that whenever she's a monster she must forget her manners 'because it's only polite!' Pair this with Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Little Pea (2005) and Little Hoot (2008, both Chronicle) for a topsy-turvy look at etiquette.-Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information. ( )