As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
To continue you need an active subscription to hbook.com.
Subscribe now to gain immediate access to everything hbook.com has to offer, as well as our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database, which contains tens of thousands of short, critical reviews of books published in the United States for young people.
Thank you for registering. To have the latest stories delivered to your inbox, select as many free newsletters as you like below.
No thanks. Return to article
(2)
PS
The Baby-Sitters Club could have told him not to lead with dessert. But there's the imperturbable Mr. Nogginbody (Mr. Nogginbody Gets a Hammer, rev. 9/19) dispensing a chocolate ice-cream soda to a mini Noggin at the start of what he seems to think will be a lovely evening. But only after the first slurp through the straw, drawn out over two suspenseful double-page spreads, and the subsequent burp does Mr. N. find out that he's supposed to serve the ice-cream soda after homework is completed, not before it is begun. Oops. A sugar high with its wanton abandon and incidental destruction ensues, and Mr. N. discovers his inner child. Things go a little over-the-heads-of-babes at this point, but no matter: the relationship is genuine, and the antics are all the funnier for Shannon's fastidious, mainly ink depictions of the mayhem and its hapless actors. Mr. Nogginbody is, let's face it, creepy-looking, and the kid is no prize. But they are clearly both drawn with love.
Reviewer: Roger Sutton
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2020