Bad News! I'm in Charge! - Hardcover

Ingman, Bruce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763620726 ISBN 13: 9780763620721

Publisher: Candlewick, 2003

Synopsis

What would you do if you could rule the land?

List of Changes:
1. Stay up late
2. Chips with everything
3. Snacks all the time
4. Every Wednesday teachers wear funny hats . . .
IT'S OFFICIAL

One day, with the help of his superduper metal detector, Danny discovers an ancient treasure chest that gives him power to rule the land. He wastes no time making changes: pets in school, no dentists or hairdressers, and Mom and Dad in bed by eight o’clock. He even finds a way to delegate his most boring new responsibilities, like opening a toothbrush factory or kissing babies! With bold, inventive artwork and sly humor, Bruce Ingman captures the essence of every kid’s wildest dream come true.

About this title

About the Author:

Bruce Ingman has taught in several colleges of art and illustrated for such
magazines as BRITISH VOGUE. He has also written and illustrated three children’s books, one of which won a Mother Goose Award and a National Art Library Illustration Award. A recipient of a master’s degree from the Royal College of Art, Bruce Ingman grew up in Liverpool and now lives in London, England. This is his first book with Candlewick Press.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 2-A boy becomes "owner and ruler of this land" by a decree in a buried charter he finds with his metal detector. In Napoleonic uniform, he appoints a Special Ops Squad of his peers and compiles his list of changes to be made. They include "snacks all the time," "wear what you like," and "make your mom & dad wait outside in the car while you visit the toy store for hours & hours." However, the protagonist finds that being in charge is grueling work, with an agenda packed with kissing babies and judging beauty contests. He creates a Cabinet of adults (diverse ethnic groups but no women) to handle the tedium: Secretary of Shaking Hands, Secretary of Being Polite, etc. The quirky artwork is a fresh blend of various techniques: line drawings in ink, cut paper, and photographic inserts. Paintings give the impression of having been executed by a child just as the story reads like the product of a child's mind. Page layouts energetically defy conventional expectations in a wild salad of contradictory dimensions, aerial views, objects out of scale-the works! While the pages vibrate with wild colors, the text is simple. It roams all over the page, its font is mutating, but the words themselves are easy. Readers are therefore freed up to absorb what's happening in the illustrations. Bad News! is wacky and just right.
Liza Graybill, Worcester Public Library, MA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0763620726
• ISBN 13: 9780763620721
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Ingman Bruce