Grandpa's Overalls - Hardcover

Crunk, Tony; Crunk/nash

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0531303217 ISBN 13: 9780531303214

Publisher: Orchard, 2001

About this title

Review

In this ebullient tall tale, work clothes take a holiday- and let their owner do the same. One morning, Grandpa's denims come alive, with their two top buttons as eyes, their undone suspenders as arms the bottoms of their stumpy legs like elephant feet. When they "hop down off their nail on the kitchen wall... and sneak away across the back porch," a Gingerbread Man-style chase ensues. Their chest pocket forming a broad smile, the agile overalls bound across a lettuce patch and hide behind a hay bale. Grandpa, clad only in red long johns, shakes his fists and protests that "a man can't work in nothin' but his long-handled drawers." At last, he modestly sits in the smoke- house while his cheerful neighbors do his plowing and weeding. Nash (Over the Moon) styles the farmers as crotchety dogs and smiling puppies. He uses a supple line to draw the galloping overalls, which perform balletic leaps and juggle potatoes like a vaudevillian. Set in a font that resembles handwriting, Crunk's (Big Marna) limber sentences are equally light-footed, his dialogue pitch perfect and twangy (Grandpa, who's "about ready to pop a stitch," yells, "Come back here, you rap- scallions!"). Crunk and Nash maintain a zippy momentum as they follow the footloose drawers--which end up eloping with Grandma's "long-tailed nightie."
---Publishers Weekly, June 11th, 2001

Grandpa's overalls have a mind of their own. Early one morning, they "hop down off their nail on the kitchen wall, slip out the door, and sneak away across the back porch." Grandpa laments, "a man can't work in nothin' but his long-handled drawers," Just like the gingerbread boy, the frisky overalls lead everyone in the family and the neighborhood on a good old-fashioned wild-goose chase. After they disappear from sight, everyone (except for Grandpa) chips in to do the chores. just when things appear to have simmered down, Grandma sees her nightgown "slipping through the kitchen door and sneaking away across the yard" and once again everyone takes off in hot pursuit. Crunk's folksy text begs to be read aloud. Nash's wacky watercolors are populated by dogs of all sort (and some other critters that defy classification). In fact, the overalls themselves look positively devilish as they run wild in the chicken coop and ride piggyback across the fields. Young readers will gladly join "Grandma, Grandpa, me, and the rest of us--chasing along behind!'
---School Library Journal, July 2001

Daffy and delicious is this tale of doggy farm folk and a pair of overalls with a mind of their own. Grandma sees it: Grandpa's overalls hopping off their nail and sneaking out the back door. Grandpa can't work in just his drawers (and fine, red longjohns they are, too), so he, Grandma, and the kids chase the overalls. Soon neighbors, relatives, and the preacher join them, because a man can't work without his overalls. But the overalls, wearing a manic grin, leap into the clouds and out of sight. The neighbors pitch in, milking the cow, getting the hay, while Grandpa sits in the smokehouse, reading a book. What should happen but the overalls appear and cadge Grandma's nightgown into sneaking away. "A body can't sleep without her .... nightie" exclaims Grandma, and the whole passel of folk, under a bright and smiling moon, chase the errant garments into the last frame. Nash's googly-eyed dogs and jujube colors are just right for the silly, sweet, slightly surreal text. Story-hour fun! -GraceAnne A. DeCandido
---Booklist, August 1st 2001

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3-Grandpa's overalls have a mind of their own. Early one morning, they "hop down off their nail on the kitchen wall, slip out the door, and sneak away across the back porch." Grandpa laments, "a man can't work in nothin' but his long-handled drawers." Just like the gingerbread boy, the frisky overalls lead everyone in the family and the neighborhood on a good old-fashioned wild-goose chase. After they disappear from sight, everyone (except for Grandpa) chips in to do the chores. Just when things appear to have simmered down, Grandma sees her nightgown "slipping through the kitchen door and sneaking away across the yard" and once again everyone takes off in hot pursuit. Crunk's folksy text begs to be read aloud. Nash's wacky watercolors are populated by dogs of all sorts (and some other critters that defy classification). In fact, the overalls themselves look positively devilish as they run wild in the chicken coop and ride piggyback across the fields. Young readers will gladly join "Grandma, Grandpa, me, and the rest of us-chasing along behind!"-Bina Williams, Bridgeport Public Library, CT
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Orchard
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0531303217
• ISBN 13: 9780531303214
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Nash Scott