A Giant Mess

by Jeffrey Ebbeler

Overview

A gigantic tyrannical toddler is out to play . . . with the whole town! A hilarious early reader from comics artist Jeffrey Ebbeler.

Molly doesn't want to clean her room; she wants to play. Before Molly can argue with her mom, they hear BOOM! BOOM! A giant toddler is on the loose!

Molly watches dumbfounded as Jack picks up cows and plucks airplanes out of the sky all for fun. He even picks up Molly and pretends to fly her around. Vroooom! When his giantess mother calls him home, he gleefully dumps everything and turns to leave. Now it's Molly's turn to say: "Stop! This is a giant mess!"

In this easy reader comic, Jeffrey Ebbeler has created an entertaining tale about cleaning up after yourself. The variety of panel styles, speech bubbles, and fonts are all perfect for engaging developing readers.

I Like to Read Comics are created for kids just learning to read. Sequential art and simple text—and a powerful relationship between the two—are the perfect for developing readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823449347
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	08/24/2021
Series:	I Like to Read Comics
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jeffrey Ebbeler has worked as an art director, book designer, and illustrator. He is a graduate of the Art Academy of Cincinnati. After college he worked for a puppet theater sculpting marionettes and performing. He has since become a full-time freelance illustrator and has illustrated over 40 children's books, including One Is a Feast for Mouse; Cinco de Mouse-O!; Haunted House, Haunted Mouse; and Snow Day for Mouse, all by Judy Cox.

Editorial Reviews

"Cleverly conceived and charmingly visualized . . . This is an agreeably quick read, but it features pictures packed enough to satisfy several return visits." —Booklist

"A play on words yields a hugely imaginative story about cleaning up in this short but eventful early reader comic . . . Ebbeler’s busy cinematic pages have an energy that translates to big fun."—Publishers Weekly

"Ebbeler showcases an imaginative and delightfully chaotic spread in comic form. . . . A larger-than-life comic adventure that’s sure to entertain emergent and newly independent readers."—School Library Journal

"Full of big facial expressions, sweeping movement, and destructive chaos, the dynamic illustrations carry the book."—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

03/01/2021

A play on words yields a hugely imaginative story about cleaning up in this short but eventful early reader comic by Ebbeler (The One and Only Dylan St. Claire). After a white child named Molly makes a “giant mess” and is unwilling to tidy it, a series of “booms,” accompanied by the appearance of a large green foot, suggest that the situation is about to get more chaotic. With bushy black eyebrows and elephantine ears, a giant arrives, lifting the roof off Molly’s house and making a Godzilla-like grab for the child. Rampaging the town with pretend play that includes zoo animals and a biplane, the giant makes a mess even larger than Molly’s: “Jack! Pick up your toys,” shout picnicking giant parents nearby. Calling to mind Molly’s earlier antics, Jack tantrums before halfheartedly putting things away in all the wrong places: dumping a train inside a house and tucking zoo animals into a store. Finally, Molly hollers “stop!” and insists the giant take responsibility for the disorder. Spare text is presented entirely through dialogue, while colorful sequential panels feature subtly textured digital art—Ebbeler’s busy cinematic pages have an energy that translates to big fun. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

03/01/2021

Gr 1–3—Molly's mom implores her to clean up her bedroom, but just as the little girl protests, they get an unexpected visit from an equally messy Jack the Giant, a barefoot, green-skinned child with jug ears and a fuzzy caterpillar unibrow. As the massive toddler wreaks havoc on Molly's town, it's up to her to teach him the value in picking up one's toys, which in Jack's case happen to be freight trains and townspeople. Ebbeler showcases an imaginative and delightfully chaotic spread in comic form. Each panel will captivate young readers, depicting Molly and Jack's adventures from different angles and inspired perspectives. The artist's clever layout and descriptive text ("Boom! Crack!") provide a colorful landscape for beginning readers to devour. Molly and her mother are white, but Ebbeler depicts townspeople in a variety of skin tones. VERDICT A larger-than-life comic adventure that's sure to entertain emergent and newly independent readers.—Claire Moore, Manhattan Beach Lib., CA

School Library Journal

2021-03-02
A child doesn’t want to clean up after playtime, only to discover a mess that’s much bigger.

Molly, a White child cued as a girl with pigtails and a bright orange dress, is having fun playing with an abundance of toys. When Mom tells her to clean up the “giant mess,” Molly starts to throw a tantrum—only to be interrupted by a literal giant. Bright green and bushy-eyebrowed, giant toddler Jack (cued as a boy with oversized sweater and red pants) runs through Molly’s neighborhood, using houses, infrastructure, animals, and people as playthings. When Jack’s parents insist he clean up his “toys,” Jack begins to throw a tantrum, and Molly decides to pass down the lesson she’s been taught: You should clean up the mess you make. Unfortunately, Jack leaves the job unfinished, and Molly finds her room even messier than before. The upside-down second story of the house puts a whole new spin on Mom’s request that Molly “pick up your room.” Simple sentences and short sight words are apt for a new reader. Full of big facial expressions, sweeping movement, and destructive chaos, the dynamic illustrations carry the book. While some may find the double-entendre concept and resulting chaos humorous, the comedy is flattened by giant disparities of gender and power, as a girl and her mother are left to clean up after a (giant) boy who treats them like objects.

Something of a mess indeed. (Graphic early reader. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews