Reviews

In this boisterous exploration of naughtiness, Shannon (How Georgie Radbourne Saved Baseball) lobs one visual zinger after another as David, a little dickens, careens from one unruly deed to the next‘coloring on the walls, tracking mud all over the carpet, jumping on the bed in red cowboy boots. Meanwhile, all those timeless childhood phrases echo in the background: "Come back here!" "Be quiet!" "Not in the house, David!" and most vigorously‘"No!" Shannon's pen whisks over the double-page spreads in a flurry of energy, as he gains perspective on an image of a bare-bottomed David cavorting down a quiet suburban street or closes in on the boy's face as he inserts a finger into his triangle nose, his button eyes tense with concentration, and perfectly round head looming larger than the pages. While Shannon gives David the purposeful look of a child's crude drawings, his background settings (the kitchen sideboard, a toy-littered TV room) are fully rendered, effectively evoking the boy's sense of displacement. This dead-on take on childhood shenanigans ends on a high note, with the penitent David (he broke a vase with a baseball) enfolded in his mother's arms as she assures him, "Yes, David, I love you." Readers won't be able to resist taking a walk on the wild side with this little rascal, and may only secretly acknowledge how much of him they recognize in themselves. Ages 2-up. (Sept.)

PreS-Gr 2‘In this ode to bad and boisterous little boys, a resourceful and inventive young David wreaks havoc in every room of the house and even runs down the road nude. He reaches too far for the cookie jar, tracks in too much dirt, bangs too loudly, and creates a potato head with string-bean arms and chicken legs instead of eating his dinner. He even sticks his finger up his nose farther than anatomy would seem to allow. The text consists mostly of his mother saying, "No, David," or variations thereof. Finally, a broken vase leads to banishment to a chair in the corner and a tear on the cheek, which leads to a motherly hug and the best affirmation of all‘"Yes, David...I love you!" The vigorous and wacky full-color acrylic paintings portray a lively and imaginative boy whose stick-figure body conveys every nuance of anger, exuberance, defiance, and, best of all, the reassurance of his mother's love. This book is perfect for reading aloud. Children will relish the deliciously bad behavior and the warm and cuddly conclusion.-Susan Pine, New York Public Library