A Perfectly Messed-Up Story

by Patrick McDonnell

Overview

In this interactive read-aloud perfect for fans of Beautiful Oops! and The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes, bestselling author and award-winning artist Patrick McDonnell creates a funny, engaging, and almost perfect story about embracing life's messes.

Little Louie's story keeps getting messed up, and he's not happy about it! What's the point of telling his tale if he can't tell it perfectly? But when he stops and takes a deep breath, he realizes that everything is actually just fine, and his story is a good one--imperfections and all.

Don't miss these other books by Patrick McDonnell:
Me... Jane
Hug Time
The Gift of Nothing
The Monster's Monster
The Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned His ABC's

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316257657
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	10/07/2014
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	7 MB
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Patrick McDonnell is the author and illustrator of Tek: The Modern Cave Boy, Thank You and Good Night, A Perfectly Messed-Up Story, The Monsters' Monster, and Me...Jane, a Caldecott Honor Book. He is also the creator of the internationally syndicated comic strip Mutts, which inspired his picture books The Gift of Nothing, Hug Time, and others. He lives in New Jersey.

Editorial Reviews

The pleasures of watching a book depart from its conventions and address its sticky-fingered reader will tickle even the littlest postmodernist.

The New York Times Book Review - Mark Levine

★ 08/18/2014
Louie, one of McDonnell’s adorable button-nosed creatures, is in the middle of his own story, singing happily when he notices some jelly on the pages. It’s not just a drawing—the photographic blob looks very real, as if readers had spilled jelly on their own book. Then a splotch of peanut butter lands on Louie’s head. “My story is getting all messed up!” he cries. A flurry of fingerprints, a splash of orange juice, and crayon scribbles soon follow. “This is the worst thing ever!” Louie wails, arms flailing wildly. The official-looking narration that starts and restarts as the book progresses (“This is Louie’s story”) turns out to be a kind of coach, an objective voice that urges Louie to take the long view. “I’m still here,” he concludes. “You’re still reading. And it is a pretty good story, messes and all.” Louie’s exaggerated reactions to the growing mess will trigger laughs with every page turn. Yet McDonnell (The Monster’s Monster) excels at reminding his characters—and readers—that it’s possible to keep it together even when life has jelly all over it. Ages 3–6. Agent: Henry Dunow, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

* "Brilliant.... A playful, funny, and friendly treatment of anxiety and life's unpredictable messes."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "Louie's exaggerated reactions...will trigger laughs with every page turn....McDonnell... excels at reminding his characters—and readers—that it's possible to keep it together even when life has jelly all over it."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"The pleasures of watching a book depart from its conventions and address its sticky-fingered reader will tickle even the littlest postmodernist."—New York Times Book Review

"Classic McDonnell pen, ink, and watercolor pastels blend with mixed-media and crayon messes to make this untidy tale a victory for unkempt books everywhere. Keep calm, and read on!"—School Library Journal

"This [one] is a fun one-Kiddos who get messy with their books will likely giggle."—Booklist

From the Publisher

"Simple yet inspired."

The New York Times Book Review

"McDonnell arranges the tale so that it blooms like a dawning day.... Relax, little monsters, and enjoy."

Booklist

09/01/2014
PreS-Gr 1—Beloved Mutts comic-strip illustrator McDonnell brings children a story about how even the most perfect things can sometimes become…well, messed up. Louie sets out to tell his happy tale about skipping and singing when suddenly a jelly blob interrupts his cheerful narrative. This is soon followed by a peanut butter ("AUGH! The chunky kind!") mess. Louie is horrified that someone would treat his story so carelessly. As the mess builds, Louie becomes more and more anxious, until a really big mess causes him to give up. "I'm just a messy old book…no one will ever want, read, or love," he cries. He soon learns a wise lesson; it is the story that makes the book, not the mess. Life is not without imperfections, and neither are stories. Classic McDonnell pen, ink, and watercolor pastels blend with mixed-media and crayon messes to make this untidy tale a victory for unkempt books everywhere. Keep calm, and read on!—Carol Connor, Cincinnati Public Schools, OH

School Library Journal

★ 2014-08-01
Here's an existential dilemma: What if you were a character in a book, and sandwich fillings fell onto your page from above? Louie skips across a calm green field under mild skies and neat, fluffy clouds. His footie pajamas are yellow, and his paper-white face is merry. "Tra la la la la," he sings. Suddenly, a blob of jelly falls from above, inferably dropped by a less-than-fastidious reader. "HEY!" shouts Louie in a speech bubble that obscures the text, nonplussed. He sniffs and licks the jelly for positive identification, squinting and declaring dissatisfaction with this sticky mess, when suddenly from above—"PLOP!" This time it's peanut butter. Enjoyable cartoon physics are at work: The peanut butter falls right onto Louie's face and covers it, but when he leans sideways, he's free of it. The ultrarealistic digitally collaged PB&J splotches retain their exact shape from spread to spread; McDonnell also uses pen and ink, brush pen, crayon and watercolor. More messes deface the idyllic countryside—fingerprints, juice, scribbles and, worst of all, a paper towel that smears rather than cleaning—and Louie has a meltdown. The blank backgrounds that throw Louie's freakout in relief, the interplay between narrative text and Louie's frantic speech bubbles, and Louie's prostrate despair are all brilliant. Happily, the backgrounds reappear (clean, but what's that on the endpaper?), and so does Louie's equilibrium. A playful, funny and friendly treatment of anxiety and life's unpredictable messes. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews