The Time It Took Tom

Take a tin of red paint. Take a boy called Tom. Mix the two together. How long will it take Tom before the trouble starts? This colourful story introduces the concept of time to young children.

PreSchool-Grade 2-Tom finds a can of red paint and proceeds to color the entire living room-furniture, cat, and all-while his mother is busy in the yard. The time it takes for each stage of his project is stated in the text. "It took him three seconds to decide what to do with [the paint]-." After his mother finds the mess, the three weeks it takes to rectify it is accounted for in entertaining detail. As the boy and his mother get rid of ruined furnishings and shop, prep, repaint, and paper, the format of the pages changes. The first part of the story is done in full-color, double-page spreads with few words in large print. The cleanup is recounted on three denser pages of text in smaller print with colorful spot art scattered throughout, rebus-style. Three weeks later, a vibrant double-page spread shows the newly carpeted, furnished, and wallpapered room in all its glory. Frequent, comical cartoon bubbles add humor to the story. On the last page, three years later, Tom finds another can of paint-. A fresh and original look at the passage of time.
Lisa Smith, Lindenhurst Memorial Library, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

To the toilsome count of one, two, three, a boy commits an absurd crime and never grasps just how bad he has been. After Tom finds a can of red paint under the kitchen sink, "It took him three seconds to decide what to do with it. One. Two. Three. 'Got it!' " It takes him three hours to paint the entire living roomAfurniture and cat included. A trio of computer-enhanced spreads, rendered in thick black lines and uniform colors and patterns, details the smiling boy's calm, step-by-step progress; through a window, his unsuspecting mother can be seen in the yard outside. Once the deed is discovered, Sharratt (Animal Orchestra) and Tucker abruptly shift from simple statements to a flood of words. Repetitive images show Tom's mother in various stages of horror (never mind that she left the boy unattended for three hours). Afterward, Tom describes the three weeks required to undo the mess. The conclusion, three years later, finds Tom under the sink again, admiring a can of blue paint. (His mother apparently hasn't rethought her paint-storage procedure.) Unlike Molly Bang's recent When Sophie Gets AngryAReally, Really Angry , there is no therapeutic message and no satisfying resolution. Tom's unsettling behavior comes out of nowhere and remains unquestioned. Ages 3-7. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Both the devilry of Tom and the clever inclusion of the consequences of his act invest this story with real charm and make the attending lesson in time most palatable. Tom, who has a head shaped like a paintbrush, discovers a can of red paint under the kitchen sink. It takes him three seconds to figure out what to do with it and three minutes to get the lid off. He paints the entire living room red. His mother goes ballistic; then it takes three weeks to clean up the mess, and each step of the process is delineated. They rent a dumpster for the destroyed furniture, strip the wallpaper, sand the woodwork, pick the paint, reject the paint they picked, and on and on in increasingly smaller typeface that makes readers feel as if they are spinning into the void. Once the mess is cleaned up, a year goes by, then two, then three, and an older Tom finds a can of blue paint under the kitchen sink. It's a witty lesson, especially with the infusion of the cautionary element and the sense of time it imparts. (Picture book. 3-7) -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.