Oh No!: Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World (Oh No! #1)

by Mac Barnett (Author) Dan Santat (Illustrator)

Oh No!: Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World (Oh No! #1)
Reading Level: K − 1st Grade
Series: Oh No!

A little girl build a large robot for the science fair, expecting to win first place, but she doesn't expect the chaos that occurs afterward.

Some kids are too smart for their own good...and maybe for everybody else's good. When an overly ambitious little girl builds a humongous robot for her science fair, she fully expects to win first place. What she doesn't expect is the chaos that follows.

Mac Barnett, a new picture book author on the rise, and Dan Santat, illustrator of Rhea Perlman's Otto Undercover series, combine forces to create a hilarious kid's eye account of the kind of destruction that comes only from a child's good intentions. This book is sure to appeal to kids and parents familiar with the ordeal of science fairs.

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Kirkus Review - Children

Starred Review
Santat’s brilliantly hued digital illustrations are the perfect foil for Barnett’s almost-wordless tale of a science project gone awry.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

Santat and Barnett collaborate seamlessly on this slapstick adventure about a pigtailed, bespectacled science fair entrant trying unsuccessfully to control her prize-winning robot. "I probably shouldn't have given it a superclaw, or a laser eye, or the power to control dogs' minds," she sighs as she watches the metallic monster storm across her city. Barnett's (Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem) telegraphic text packs wicked humor into economical, comic bookstyle lines, while Santat's (Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo) skylines pay homage to old monster movies. In one scene, the robot looms Godzilla-like, railroad car in hand, over an urban Japantown; another sequence is viewed through its fish-eye lens, with crosshairs trained on its creator. When the robot reacts with fury to the girl's futile attempts to stop it ("I should have given it ears," she laments), the girl and text become blurred, testimony to the impact of its stomps. Blueprints for the robot and the genetically altered toad she deploys to defeat it are included on the endpapers, but, kids, don't try this at home! Ages 37. (June)

Copyright 2010 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3—his graphic novel in picture-book form will appeal to the "Captain Underpants" set. A young girl builds a robot for the science fair, but things get crazy when it goes on a rampage through the city. That's when she realizes that she forgot to give it any skills that would allow it to understand her commands to stop. She creates a giant toad monster to fight the robot—but the toad has its own problems. Santat's Photoshop illustrations propel the story far more than the text, and the dialogue balloons, dramatic perspectives, and graphic style bring a true comic-book sensibility to this funny story that's loaded with child appeal.—"Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

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Mac Barnett
Mac Barnett is the New York Times bestselling author of more than forty books, including Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, Extra Yarn, and the Mac B., Kid Spy series. His books have won numerous prizes, including three E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards, two Caldecott Honors, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. Mac lives in Oakland, California.

Greg Pizzoli is an author, illustrator, and printmaker. His first picture book, The Watermelon Seed, won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, and his book Good Night Owl was a Geisel Honor. His Viking nonfiction picture book Tricky Vic was a New York Times Best Illustrated of 2015. He lives in Philadelphia.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781423123125
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date
June 20, 2010
Series
Oh No!
BISAC categories
JUV000000 - Juvenile Fiction | General
Library of Congress categories
Humorous stories
Robots
Science projects
Science fairs

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