The Messy Family

August 1, 2008
PreS-Gr 1-O'Neal and Huliska-Beith attempt to use humor to push ideas about accepting people for who they are. Grandpa Grumpy's gruff exterior hides a good heart. The Loud family is disruptive at church, but when the mic stops working, Papa Loud is able to read the Bible passage and be heard. The Messy family can't seem to keep their house neat, but they do good works and are wonderful hosts. The Sillys' antics bring laughter to the church picnic. The illustrations are bright, busy, cartoonish, and, well, loud. The characters' red noses make one wonder if they haven't been drinking a bit too much sacramental wine. The use of a different colored, larger font to emphasize volume, jokes, and grumpiness is intrusive and distracting. The overly comical illustrations and tone, while intended to make the religious lessons go down easily, make light of things and are unlikely to appeal to children. In fact, unless one reads the flaps, the points may be completely lost on young listeners. "Grandpa Grumpy" and "The Messy Family" are the most successful of the four and may fill a need in places where there is great demand for picture books with a religious bent, but, in most libraries, none of these titles will be missed."Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2008
In each book, a family defined by its dominant behavior is valued for what it offers the church community (e.g., a messy family is too busy with volunteer work to clean, a loud family helps a pastor who's losing his voice). The stories teach strong moral lessons but sacrifice character development, storytelling, and artistry; the writing and illustrations are equally frenetic.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)