It's Not My Fault!

John (Giraffe Problems) and Chapman's (Vegetables in Underwear) redheaded protagonist is a pro at passing the buck: it's his pen's fault that his homework is messy and late, and the moon's fault that he's up past his bedtime. But his fall guys are not as inanimate as he assumes (the brightly colored cartooned line drawings show them fuming with each falsehood), and late one night the pen holds an intervention, unleashing a torrent of hard truths and a threat to revoke affection that should make for bravura reading aloud. "Blaming everything but yourself, never taking responsibility for your actions, and pointing a guilty, quaking finger whenever you've done anything wrong is a sham," the pen declares. What's more, "blaming the moon for when you stay up too late makes literally NO SENSE AT ALL." ("YEAH!" an angry moon echoes from the sky.) And it works: the boy announces at school the next day that he accepts responsibility for his actions--well, at least partially. There's something to be said for the story's unalloyed righteous indignation, its conviction showing that the blame game is never just fun and games. Ages 3-7. Author's agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Productions. Illustrator's agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (June)

Gr 1-3--A young boy is so incapable of accepting responsibility for his own mistakes that he blames everyone--and everything--around him. When the inanimate objects in his life get fed up with being scapegoats, they stage a revolt, rising up in the middle of the night to tell the boy why his blame-shifting actions are wrong. Human characters have a comics aesthetic to them, while the inanimate objects all have expressive faces. An angry pair of shoes, a furious backpack, and an irate bar of soap show their fury by grimacing and baring teeth at the irresponsible main character. The book employs what is now a John trademark: a character delivers a page-long monologue in which the moral of the story is delivered. While the narrative delivery lacks cleverness, the book's presentation and metatext is dripping with it. The jacket flap is narrated by the buck-passing main character. The dedication features the illustrator blaming the author and the author claiming, naturally, that it's not his fault. VERDICT Recommended for collections in which other Jory books such as Penguin Problems or Giraffe Problems are popular.--Chance Lee Joyner, Haverhill Public Library, MA