Flabbersmashed About You

by Rachel Vail, Yumi Heo (Illustrator)

Overview

Readers first met Katie Honors in Rachel and Yumi's Sometimes I'm Bombaloo and Jibberwillies at Night. Now Katie is back as she deals with feeling "flabbersmashed" by her best friend, who suddenly wants to be friends with another kid. We've all been flabbersmashed by a friend—left out of an activity or secret, left to feel sorry for ourselves, or move on. Will Katie ever stop feeling left out?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466817999
Publisher:	Feiwel & Friends
Publication date:	07/03/2012
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	46 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Rachel Vail is the author of numerous novels and picture books, including Justin Case and Piggy Bunny. She lives in New York City with her husband and two sons.

Yumi Heo was born and raised in Korea, where she studied graphic design. She came to the United States in 1989 and received an MFA in Illustration from New York City's School of Visual Arts. She is the author and illustrator of many books, including Father’s Rubber Shoes, The Green Frogs: A Korean Folk Tale, and Lady Hahn and Her Seven Friends. She lived in White Plains, New York.

Editorial Reviews

In their third journey through the emotional states of heroine Katie Honors (following Sometimes I’m Bombaloo and Jibberwillies at Night), Vail and Heo look at what happens when a best friend suddenly turns cold. One day, Katie and Jennifer are inseparable (“Lots of times, we dress alike. Our hands fit perfectly together”); the next day, Jennifer has picked Roy—who likes to “play warriors... and kill bad guys”—to be her “walk-in-from-recess” buddy. As with the previous books, Vail coins an aurally vivid portmanteau (flabbersmashed) to describe Katie’s psychic cocktail of bewilderment, anger, and sense of abandonment. Heo’s colorful childlike drawings effortlessly veer from the opening pages’ idylls of friendship into harrowing psychological maelstroms: when Katie first receives Jennifer’s casual rejection, the playground is transformed into a vast sea of midnight blue that threatens to engulf her. Vail fully inhabits Katie’s mind and emotions and with prose like “my whole self felt like a bruise” gives readers yet another way to describe and think about feelings that are sometimes difficult to put into words. Ages 4–8. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (July)

Publishers Weekly

For readers who are confronting loss or shifts in friendship.” —Kirkus

“Evocative.” —Booklist

From the Publisher

PreS-Gr 2—Self-described as a "really friendly kid" who goes on "lots of playdates," Katie Honors, protagonist of Sometimes I'm Bombaloo! (2002) and Jibberwhillies at Night (2008, both Scholastic), characteristically gives a straight-talking exploration of how it feels when her best friend's allegiance momentarily shifts to someone else. Jennifer decides to build forts and "kill the bad guys" with Roy on the playground, leaving Katie feeling flabbersmashed-and alone. Boiling with anger, she resorts to physical interference ("I chopped their hands apart") and yelling when Jennifer and Roy line up together after recess. Meanwhile, classmate Arabella, "who just moved here and hardly talks at all," stands alone and quietly offers her hand to Katie… and a not-exactly-the-same, but promising, friendship takes root. Young children will relate to Katie's thoughts and emotions, the range and intensity of which are effectively mirrored in varied design perspectives, font sizes, and colors. Bold strokes of thick, textured paint render the playground setting and youngsters' faces and feelings in childlike simplicity; the attractive textile patterns in their clothing easily define each character. This is a fresh, inviting, and altogether useful presentation of a perennial childhood predicament from a familiar, trusted source-Katie Honors.—Kathleen Finn, St. Francis Xavier School, Winooski, VT

School Library Journal

The third Katie Honors entry (Sometimes I'm Bombaloo, 2002; Jibberwillies at Night, 2008) again traverses critical emotional territory, though the visual and textual quality don't match the topic's importance. The plot is simple: Katie's best friend plays with someone else at recess; Katie feels furious and wounded until she makes a new chum herself. Although Katie boasts about her own social dabbling ("I like to play with everybody, and they all like to play with me, too. I go on lots of playdates"), and although Jennifer never implies that their friendship's over, powerlessness and loss of routine do sting. Unfortunately, the artwork is too stilted and static for the roiling emotions and theme about change. Composition varies, but despite interesting white space between figures and background, the vibe is stiff. Even when Katie imagines screaming, Heo's geometrical shapes look balanced and regular. When Katie does yell, her eye becomes a spiral, and the visuals finally match the mood. Text changes type, color and size, in a way that feels not playful but instructional and provides volume levels. Description of Katie's old and new pals waxes sentimentally adult: Jennifer's "smile is as bright as the morning sun in your eyes," Arabella's "smile [i]s gentle like the afternoon sun between the leaves." As the future of Katie and Jennifer's friendship remains unknown, this is for readers who are confronting loss or shifts in friendship. (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews