Tumford the Terrible

From Barnes & Noble

When the author of On the Night You Were Born and The Wonder of You gifts us with a new picture book, children and parents take notice. The title character of Nancy Tillman's latest opus isn't a new version of Ivan the Terrible; he's a slightly hapless cat who somehow always gets into trouble. With no ill intent, he creates messes, disrupts parties and raises havoc at the Village Fair. His owners understand that his feline clumsiness is just natural; what they can't comprehend is his apparent inability to say that he's sorry. This story is truly adorable; the book's photo-collages make it doubly so.

Publishers Weekly

Tumford exists to deliver a lesson on the importance of apologizing sincerely; with his chubby tummy and slick yellow boots, he looks as if he might have had some interesting adventures, but Tillman (On the Night You Were Born) stays on message. On the first page, Tumford claws a checked tablecloth to get to a plate of pancakes—he's always in trouble—but his owners Violet and George don't mind that so much as his inability to apologize ("In spite of the manners he often forgot,/ he would not say, 'I'm sorry,'/ Oh no, he would not."). During a trip to the fair, Tumford spills fish on the Village Fair queen and, after a fierce inner battle, resolves to do the right thing: "I'll bet you've guessed what comes next in the story./ Tumford stepped forward and said he was sorry." Extra-vivid impact is provided by photo-collage illustrations that combine winning images of Tumford (he has just the right insouciant, "I'm-not-apologizing" look) with props like teddy bears and teapots. Fans of Tillman's heart-on-her-sleeve sentimentality will be drawn to this as surely as Tumford is drawn to Twinklefish pie. Ages 3–5. (May)

From the Publisher

Praise for Wherever You Are, My Love Will Find You:

“The illustrations that flow across each page of this tale are every bit as beautiful as the message: Never doubt that you’re number one with Mom.” —Parenting: Early Years

"Encourages an adult and child to snuggle affectionately together with a book is undeniable and may make this just the balm the doctor (or librarian) ordered.” —Booklist

“Parents and grandparents with a sweet tooth will likely lap up the latest in Tillman’s string of sentimental favorites.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[Tillman] has an unerring instinct for dramatic composition--in these pages, readers get the sense of spying on a secret world--and her potent combination of unapologetic sentiment, fantasy, photorealism, and painterliness has an undeniable allure.” —Publishers Weekly

“Oh, to be the lucky child whose parent reads Wherever You Are, My Love Will Find You aloud…Wherever You Are, My Love Will Find You is the book you want to give to whomever you love; it would make a memorable birthday, holiday or ‘just because’ gift, and it is sure to be treasured.” —BlogCritics.org

Praise for On the Night You Were Born:

“This is one of those rare baby books that should make both skeptics and sentimentalists of all ages happy.”—Publishers Weekly

“A beautiful tribute to the uniqueness of every child.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Many parents will welcome this opportunity to tell their children how special and loved they are.”—Booklist

Praise for It’s Time to Sleep, My Love:

“As in On the Night You Were Born, the words directly address a young listener with comforting, fanciful imagery. . . . culminating in a final scene of a sleeping child in a floating bed under a watchful moon, this gentle, tender offering will buoy children with its strong messages of safety and love.”—Booklist

“A luxuriant bedtime retreat for children and parents alike.”—Kirkus Reviews

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2—Tumford the cat can't bring himself to apologize after he breaks dishes, tramples the garden, or knocks over paint cans. He chokes on the words, "I'm sorry," and hides to avoid saying them to his kind owners. The elderly couple love Tummy anyway. In fact, they even take him to a fair after he promises to apologize for any mess he might make. There he knocks a dish of kippers on the Village Fair Queen and hides until he realizes that saying "sorry" might make the Stoutts proud and happy. The entire crowd cheers his apology. The artwork, done in collage and paint, includes varying amounts of detail and white space, but all feature the feline. Sometimes Tumford moves about like other black-and-white cats, but in other illustrations, he strides upright wearing yellow rubber boots. Other characters are secondary, as they probably are in Tummy's self-centered universe. The rhymed couplets reinforce the same message Tillman included in earlier books: no matter what a child (or cat) does, unconditional love prevails. Those who prefer a less cloying and more nuanced look at learning to apologize might consider Samantha Berger's Martha Doesn't Say Sorry! (Little, Brown, 2009). Collections in which Tillman's previous works circulate might want this title, but others can probably pass.—Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Kirkus Reviews

A well-intended morality tale. "In the wee little village of / Sweet Apple Green, / in the tiniest cottage you've ever seen, / lives a cat causing trouble, / within and without... / a cat named Tumford... / Tumford Stoutt." He lives with Georgy and Violet, who have nicknamed him Tummy. Whenever Tumford gets in trouble, he refuses to say he's sorry and hides instead. Vi and Georgy hope to break him of this habit, so they make him promise that he will apologize if he makes a mess. In return, they'll take him to the fair. Of course, a mess occurs; though he hides at first, Tumford decides to please his human parents and apologize. In the painted photocollage illustrations, Tillman's Tumford, an obvious child stand-in, wears a fixed yellow stare readers will have a hard time warming up to. Fans of her at-times-cloying previous efforts will likely not mind this precious tale and its didacticism. Even they may have trouble with the uneven scansion and occasionally awkward rhymes in this fable that seems to counsel apologizing to please others and make yourself feel good rather than because you mean it. Stick with the genuinely kid-friendly likes of Samantha Berger's Martha Doesn't Say Sorry (2009). (Picture book. 3-6)