To the Tub

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A frog father tries to get his son Joe to take a bath, but Joe proves to be a master of stalling, leading his father on a chaotic romp through the backyard. Joe's demands to find just one more tub toy are called off when dad and son spot a seductive mud puddle and gleefully jump in, putting them both in need of a scrub (and proving that most dads are really messy kids at heart, although apparently the mom, who appears at the door in a prim apron, is not). Anderson (Time for Bed, the Babysitter Said) has a distinct flair for slapstickin a variation of the old banana-peel gag, for example, Dad is precariously balancing an armload of toys when he trips on a beachball. The text, however, poses a problem with its ambivalent cadence: it slides in and out of verse indiscriminately, and those who read the book aloud may find themselves struggling to find the right meter. Ages 3-7. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

General Pinch successfully squelches any attempts at joy-making on Liberty Street until the Araboolies arrive. "The many-sided satire on fascism is wordy and repetitive," said PW. "But the messages of freedom, individualism and tolerance are strong." Ages 4-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1Joe is an active little frog who stalls his bathtime by gathering tub toys from his sandbox and treehouse. He tosses them one by one to his father. Piled high with paraphernalia, dad finally loses his balance, dropping the toys into a puddle. A gleeful father/son mud bath ensues. The time-honored bath-procrastination ploy is portrayed, for a change, with a lovely absence of tension. Good-natured slapstick sets the tone, and Anderson's bright rhymes follow suit, reinforced by fresh watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations dancing on bright white pages. The vocabulary is simple enough for beginning readers. In treatment as well as in plot, this title is the antithesis of the godfather of bathtime books, the Woods' King Bidgood's in the Bathtub (Harcourt, 1985).Liza Bliss, Worcester Public Library, MA

Kirkus Reviews

"To the tub," instructs Joe's amiable father. Joe, a frog, is not averse, at least not openly, but he needs a few toys to accompany him: a pail and boat, a rubber octopus, and a beach ball, for starters. Joe's dad urges him bathward as Joe heaps his father higher and higher with tubside entertainments, until he stumbles and offloads the cargo into a mud puddle. Well, a mud bath is better than no bath. Suitable goofiness, in spite of less-than- felicitous rhyming ("Instead of dirty-green and slimy, you'll be squeaky-clean and shiny!") keeps this story of maneuverings sprightly and humorous, as do the ebullient cartoony drawings, which aptly demonstrate the good-natured parry and thrusts that mark the lighter moments of parent-child discourse. Does Joe get the bath? He's last seen outside the tub, scrubbing his father's back.