That's NOT How You Do It!

by Ariane Hofmann-Maniyar, Ariane Hofmann-Maniyar (Illustrator)

Overview

Lucy knows how to do everything. She knows how to eat with a spoon and fork, play the xylophone, paint elephants – and lots more besides! All her friends ask her for help if they need to know the right way to do something. When Toshi arrives, Lucy thinks he can’t do anything properly at all. He eats differently, plays strange music, and he definitely can’t paint elephants. She can barely hide her frustration. And when she finally tries to teach Toshi the right way to do things, she learns a very important lesson herself. A simple, funny tale about understanding, respecting and enjoying our differences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781846439292
Publisher:	Child's Play (International) Ltd
Publication date:	07/01/2017
Series:	Child's Play Library
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

Editorial Reviews

01/09/2017
Lucy is a competent, beret-wearing kitten—she’s mastered tricky skills like eating with a fork and playing the xylophone, and she’s way ahead of her peers. “If you didn’t know how to do something, you came to Lucy for help,” writes Hofmann-Maniyar (Ice in the Jungle), showing a long line of animals awaiting assistance with such sticky wickets as blowing bubbles, working a yo-yo, and peeling a banana. Enter Toshi, a panda with his own brand of competence: he eats with chopsticks and does yoga instead of gymnastics—another one of Lucy’s specialties. The narration, previously chipper and sympathetic to Lucy, turns ironic: readers learn that “Toshi’s gymnastics were all wrong,” even as they see him striking an impressive tree pose. Lucy, it appears, is as controlling as she is capable. “That’s not how you do it!” she fumes to herself, before finally screaming it at the top of her lungs. Feeling outshone and irrelevant isn’t fun at any age, but Hofmann-Maniyar’s crisp, pert drawings subtly hold out the promise of a mutually respectful collaboration between these two talented animals. Ages 4–7. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

03/01/2017
PreS-Gr 1—Lucy, a striped cat in a blue beret, knows how to do everything. Colorful, textured illustrations show her eating neatly with a spoon and fork, performing gymnastics, and folding the perfect paper star. The other animals line up to have Lucy help them with the varied things they don't know how to do. But everything changes when a panda named Toshi arrives from "far away." He does things differently. Rather than eat with silverware, Toshi uses chopsticks. His gymnastics are like nothing Lucy has ever seen, although readers may recognize the poses as yoga. On each page, Lucy can be seen watching Toshi from afar, with a worried look on her face and the thought, "That's NOT how you do it!" appearing in a bubble over her head. When Toshi starts folding a paper star that is "ALL wrong," Lucy can't contain her growing frustration and angrily shouts out, "That's NOT how you do it!" However, when Toshi presents her with a beautifully folded paper crane, she realizes that maybe this newcomer can teach her something, too. VERDICT This story, with its gentle message of not only accepting differences but learning from them, is an effective read-aloud and a worthy addition to most collections.—Kimberly Tolson, Concord Free Public Library, MA

School Library Journal

2016-12-21
A confident cat knows the right way to do everything. But is there a right way?Lucy, a little striped cat in a blue beret, can build a tower, do gymnastics, play the xylophone, eat with a spoon and fork, and fold a piece of paper into a perfect star. When any of the other animals are stumped, they come to Lucy for help. But everything changes when Toshi, a blue-and-white panda with pink cheeks from "far away" (that's what the sticker on his cute pink luggage says) arrives. His gymnastics are all wrong. (He practices yoga.) His music is strange. (He plays a samisen.) He doesn't know how to use a spoon and fork. (He uses chopsticks.) And his paper folding is all wrong. (It's origami.) All of this plays out in the brushy illustrations, the text communicating Lucy's increasing frustration and Toshi's serenity. Lucy can't stand it; she screams at Toshi, "That's NOT how you do it!" And Toshi simply gives her the lovely pink crane that's he's just made out of folded paper. Lucy meekly asks Toshi to show her how, and in return he asks her help in making a paper star. Before long, Lucy has made a flock of cranes and Toshi, a night sky full of stars. More important, each has found a friend. Hofmann-Maniyar delivers her valuable message effectively, with an appropriately light touch that delicately allows her illustrations to develop the conflict. Sweet but not cloying, purposive but not pedantic. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews