APRIL 2012 - AudioFile
Al Yankovic provides a creative take on the mundane question: What are you going to be when you grow up? His rollicking tone and accelerating pace put listeners firmly in the perspective of hyperactive, hyperbolic 8-year-old Billy, who has a wealth of answers to Mrs. Krupp’s pedantic question. Billy imagines his future as a world-renowned chef famous for his “Twinkies au gratin,” a snail trainer, a giraffe milker, a gorilla masseuse, a chocolate mousse artist, a smelly pit-sniffing deodorant tester—and more. Like many celebrities, Yankovic seems to believe that a Seuss-like rhyming style is the only way to craft a children’s book. Sadly, the author’s inventive story and enthusiastic expression are better than his writing craft. S.W. 2012 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
A boy's careening imagination fuels the zingy verse and art in this lighthearted take on a familiar theme. Comedian and musical satirist Yankovic opens his first children's book with Billy hogging the spotlight during show-and-tell: "I proudly stood up and began my oration/ Concerning my choice for a future vocation." His formality gives way to freewheeling fantasies as he envisions himself a world-famous chef ("My walls will be filled with awards that I've gotten/ For toast-on-a-stick and my Twinkies au gratin"), a snail trainer ("Why, that's a no-brainer!"), a lathe operator, and a giraffe milker ("It's oh-so-cliché to get milk from a cow,/ And I bet all those cows need a break anyhow"). The tempo quickens when the boy begins listing rather than describing potential professions, even the most mainstream of which Hargis (Jackson and Bud's Bumpy Ride) portrays with comedic hyperbole. He offers especially outlandish depictions of Billy as gorilla masseuse, deodorant tester, and tarantula shaver. After all the wackiness, Yankovic's poem wraps up on a more realistic note, as the boy finds career inspiration closer to school. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)
From the Publisher
A rare book with appeal to both kids and adults.” — Booklist
Booklist
A rare book with appeal to both kids and adults.
Booklist
A rare book with appeal to both kids and adults.
School Library Journal
Gr 1–3—Eight-year-old Billy has an active imagination and a host of interests. So, when it's time for show-and-tell, he can barely contain himself as he describes, nonstop, what he'd like to be when he grows up. His career choices include chef, snail trainer, lathe operator, gorilla masseuse, an artist whose preferred medium is chocolate mousse, sumo wrestler, pickle inspector...and on and on. Mrs. Krupp's attempts to call "time up" are unsuccessful. He's just getting started. Billy is still pondering vocational choices at lunchtime when he comes up with one more possibility—a great teacher like Mrs. Krupp. The story has a nice premise, but it doesn't quite live up to its potential. In addition, the rhyming text can be distracting. Well-done, realistic and colorful watercolor and ink illustrations accompany the story, but overall this book is a supplemental purchase.—Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA
APRIL 2012 - AudioFile
Al Yankovic provides a creative take on the mundane question: What are you going to be when you grow up? His rollicking tone and accelerating pace put listeners firmly in the perspective of hyperactive, hyperbolic 8-year-old Billy, who has a wealth of answers to Mrs. Krupp’s pedantic question. Billy imagines his future as a world-renowned chef famous for his “Twinkies au gratin,” a snail trainer, a giraffe milker, a gorilla masseuse, a chocolate mousse artist, a smelly pit-sniffing deodorant tester—and more. Like many celebrities, Yankovic seems to believe that a Seuss-like rhyming style is the only way to craft a children’s book. Sadly, the author’s inventive story and enthusiastic expression are better than his writing craft. S.W. 2012 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
