When I Grow Up

by Al Yankovic, Wes Hargis (Illustrator)

Overview

Grammy Award winner and pop culture icon “Weird Al” Yankovic delivers his first picture book, bringing his trademark wit, wordplay, and silliness to a story that explores the timeless question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Funny and charming, this is a celebration of creativity and possibility. 

An Amazon Best Book of the Month! "The farce and parody make this a rare book with appeal to both kids and adults" (Booklist).

It’s Show-and-Tell time in Mrs. Krupp’s class, and Billy just can’t wait for his turn! Today the class is discussing what they want to be when they grow up, and our exuberant eight-year-old hero is bursting to tell everyone about his future career plans.

In dazzling wordplay and delicious rhymes, Billy regales his patient teacher and amazed classmates with tales of the variety of careers he wants to pursue—each more outlandish and wildly imaginative than the last!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061926914
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/01/2011
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	122,480
Product dimensions:	10.90(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	1000L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Known for more than thirty years as America's premier satirist of popular music and culture, "Weird Al" Yankovic has had almost as many careers as Billy can dream of. Advised by his father to do whatever made him happy, he has accordingly been a comedian, singer/songwriter, music producer, actor, director, and writer—often all at the same time. Mr. Yankovic has won three Grammy Awards and has sold more comedy recordings than anyone else in history. He lives with his family in Southern California.

Wes Hargis wanted to be a professional dirt miner when he grew up. Unstable market prices for dirt led him to pursue his second love, and he has been an illustrator for more than fifteen years. Mr. Hargis lives with his family (and his dirt) in Arizona.

Editorial Reviews

A boy's careening imagination fuels the zingy verse and art in this lighthearted take on a familiar theme. Comedian and musical satirist Yankovic opens his first children's book with Billy hogging the spotlight during show-and-tell: "I proudly stood up and began my oration/ Concerning my choice for a future vocation." His formality gives way to freewheeling fantasies as he envisions himself a world-famous chef ("My walls will be filled with awards that I've gotten/ For toast-on-a-stick and my Twinkies au gratin"), a snail trainer ("Why, that's a no-brainer!"), a lathe operator, and a giraffe milker ("It's oh-so-cliché to get milk from a cow,/ And I bet all those cows need a break anyhow"). The tempo quickens when the boy begins listing rather than describing potential professions, even the most mainstream of which Hargis (Jackson and Bud's Bumpy Ride) portrays with comedic hyperbole. He offers especially outlandish depictions of Billy as gorilla masseuse, deodorant tester, and tarantula shaver. After all the wackiness, Yankovic's poem wraps up on a more realistic note, as the boy finds career inspiration closer to school. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

A rare book with appeal to both kids and adults.” — Booklist

From the Publisher

A rare book with appeal to both kids and adults.

Booklist

A rare book with appeal to both kids and adults.

Booklist

Gr 1–3—Eight-year-old Billy has an active imagination and a host of interests. So, when it's time for show-and-tell, he can barely contain himself as he describes, nonstop, what he'd like to be when he grows up. His career choices include chef, snail trainer, lathe operator, gorilla masseuse, an artist whose preferred medium is chocolate mousse, sumo wrestler, pickle inspector...and on and on. Mrs. Krupp's attempts to call "time up" are unsuccessful. He's just getting started. Billy is still pondering vocational choices at lunchtime when he comes up with one more possibility—a great teacher like Mrs. Krupp. The story has a nice premise, but it doesn't quite live up to its potential. In addition, the rhyming text can be distracting. Well-done, realistic and colorful watercolor and ink illustrations accompany the story, but overall this book is a supplemental purchase.—Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA

School Library Journal

Al Yankovic provides a creative take on the mundane question: What are you going to be when you grow up? His rollicking tone and accelerating pace put listeners firmly in the perspective of hyperactive, hyperbolic 8-year-old Billy, who has a wealth of answers to Mrs. Krupp’s pedantic question. Billy imagines his future as a world-renowned chef famous for his “Twinkies au gratin,” a snail trainer, a giraffe milker, a gorilla masseuse, a chocolate mousse artist, a smelly pit-sniffing deodorant tester—and more. Like many celebrities, Yankovic seems to believe that a Seuss-like rhyming style is the only way to craft a children’s book. Sadly, the author’s inventive story and enthusiastic expression are better than his writing craft. S.W. 2012 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2012 - AudioFile

Al Yankovic provides a creative take on the mundane question: What are you going to be when you grow up? His rollicking tone and accelerating pace put listeners firmly in the perspective of hyperactive, hyperbolic 8-year-old Billy, who has a wealth of answers to Mrs. Krupp’s pedantic question. Billy imagines his future as a world-renowned chef famous for his “Twinkies au gratin,” a snail trainer, a giraffe milker, a gorilla masseuse, a chocolate mousse artist, a smelly pit-sniffing deodorant tester—and more. Like many celebrities, Yankovic seems to believe that a Seuss-like rhyming style is the only way to craft a children’s book. Sadly, the author’s inventive story and enthusiastic expression are better than his writing craft. S.W. 2012 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2012 - AudioFile