The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Brown, Margaret Wise

The Dirty Little Boy

40 pp. | Winslow | April, 2001 | Trade ISBN 1-890817-52-X $$16.95

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Steven Salerno. A new generation will enjoy this gentle, humorous tale of a small boy's failed attempts at bathing himself by copying farmyard animals. Originally published in 1939 in Jack and Jill magazine, then later in an anthology as How the Animals Took a Bath, the new version features breezy illustrations with bold, black outlines and vibrant colors rendered in a variety of media--a surprisingly good match for Brown's lilting, insightful prose.

Reviewer: CHristine Sarrazin