On Account of the Gum
Author & Illustrator: Adam Rex
Chronicle Books
Ages 4-8
Have you ever had a child come to you with gum in their hair? NO? You are lucky. As a parent and teacher, I have had the opportunity to deal with this little issue more times than I can count. It is never easy, it is never neat. It is usually funny.
This story is that and more. The first thing you notice as you start to read is the expression on the face of the child with the gum in his hair. It is pretty accurate. It is a look I have seen many times. It starts off with a horrified expression that quickly turns to exasperation and finally surrender.
Waking up with gum in his hair is cause for concern. The options that are given by a variety of people as to ways to remove it go from simple to insane. Throughout the story, he stoically sits there and endures each new and crazier suggestion.
When all the different attempts to remove the gum prove unsuccessful, he finally loses his composure and yells for a stop to the useless ideas. At this point, there is so much more than just gum in his hair and his patience is all but gone.
To add to his surprise, the gum miraculously gets out of his hair after all the crazy suggestions only for the plot to take another unexpected twist and take us to another unbelievable event in the story. What else could a reader have been expecting in a totally unexpected series of events?
This is a truly entertaining story with fun rhymes, unexpected ideas to solve a common problem, and the most colorful illustrations to compliment all of it. This is one that will surely be read again and again. Funny, whimsical, surprising, enjoyable, and just plain fun.
On Account of the Gum (Support an Independent Bookstore)
On Account of the Gum (Amazon)*
More books for this Age Group can be found here.
My thanks to Chronicle Books for providing a Review Copy of this book. All opinions provided herein are my own.
Please, leave comments! I love a HEALTHY exchange of ideas. After all, critical thinking is essential to life.