The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Gibbons, Faye

The Day the Picture Man Came

32 pp. | Boyds | March, 2003 | Trade ISBN 1-56397-161-5 $$16.95

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Sherry Meidell. When a traveling photographer pulls his horse-drawn wagon into the farmyard, Emily's large and rambunctious family gathers for a family photo; unfortunately, the pets--dogs, cat, and goat--refuse to sit pretty and instead cause a ruckus. Set in the mountains of Georgia, this picture book tries too hard to be humorous: although the illustrations are appropriately comic, the text describes the slapstick action in unnecessary detail.

Reviewer: Anne St. John