Reviews
Publishers Weekly: Thanks to Becker's (An Ant's Day Off) rhythmic, comically feverish prose and Davis's (Marsupial Sue) merrily macabre mixed-media illustrations, readers get sucked into this vortex, right along with the hero. "Had a week gone by? Or even more?" wonders Johnny, as calendar pages whirl around his head and he grows stubble on his chin ("Was it snowing? And who was that fat man ho-ho-hoing?"). In the hero's surreal adventure, "He grew a foot or more, got married, had kids, and bought a house on the hill, waiting in Bindle's department store." Davis pulls out all his signature Grand Guignol stops as he depicts the fellow about to be swept away by rising seaswhen at last Mother reappears with a new outfit, totally oblivious to her son's inner torment and ready to consume some more. As Rod Serling himself might say, Johnny's nightmare is over, but the shopping has just begun. This over-the-top tale about pint-sized fear and loathing will likely have kids nodding and grinning in recognition and agreement.
School Library Journal: The sometimes-rhyming text moves along at a fast clip and the cartoon illustrations, drawn in colored pencils, add to the fun. This funny story is sure to strike a chord with children who have waited endlessly for someone or something.
Excerpt
"Now don't you move," said Johnny MacGuffin's mother.
"Stay right here while I shop.
Auntie Mabel will watch.
I'll be just a minute."
And she sailed away, past the purses and plates
Up the Up escalator in Bindle’s Department Store.
"But you'll take forever!" Johnny cried.
"When you get back I'll be fossilized."
But it was too late.
He was stuck in the basement of Bindle's again.
Stuck in the basement of Bindle’s again,
He counted the squares of linoleum
All the way down to the newspaper stand.
Thirty-one.
He counted the hairs on the third double chin
Of Mabel buying socks.
Four.
He counted the seconds on the clock.
One hundred and ten.
Or was it minutes?
Or even hours?!
It was Tuesday. Wasn't that true.
But down the aisle, calendar pages flew
Like birds from their nest.
And church bells were tolling,
And shoppers were strolling
In their Sunday best.
Had a week gone by?
Or even more?
