The Contrary Kid

An off-beat and unusual child does everything differently from other people but is comfortable with his unique outlook on life

Weirdness for its own sake seems to be the point of this artless offering. After a page-one definition of "contrary" that includes the terms "willful" and "buggin' out," the Contrary Kid introduces himself. "I color all outside the lines, but please don't disapprove?/ They took my favorite coloring book and hung it in the Louvre," he boasts. Elsewhere our hero expresses his fondness for bathing in "spinach soup and collard greens"; admits to craving "chocolate caterpillar pie'"; and confides, "I'm really very selfish but I'll give you all my money/ I hop around the house a lot and roar just like a bunny." Cibula's (Slumgullion, the Executive Pig) plotless, hyperactive couplets are set in varied typefaces, with some words printed in colors and others as pictographs (the word "porcupine" has quills, "caterpillar" is written on said insect, etc.). This littered text competes for attention with equally overblown cartoons?and, as Strassburg stretches and warps his figures into ungainly compositions, the overall effect is none too pretty. Ages 4-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 2^-4. Fans of the wacky humor of Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky will enjoy this unconventional picture book, which uses bright, colorful cartoons and a kooky rhyming text to relay the antics of an eccentric youngster. Told by the contrary kid himself, the narrative is actually just a listing of his oddball behaviors, which include jumping rope inside the kitchen sink and wearing pizza on his head. By book's end, the contrary kid has met his match in Taquandra Fu, a new girl in his class, who turns out to be a female version of himself. Closing comments relay the message: it's okay, even desirable, to be different. A book that encourages kids to be happy with who they are: "We're both contrary kids--we're happy and we're smart. To truly be contrary is a science and an art." Lauren Peterson