When I Grow Up

December 6, 2010
A boy's careening imagination fuels the zingy verse and art in this lighthearted take on a familiar theme. Comedian and musical satirist Yankovic opens his first children's book with Billy hogging the spotlight during show-and-tell: "I proudly stood up and began my oration/ Concerning my choice for a future vocation." His formality gives way to freewheeling fantasies as he envisions himself a world-famous chef ("My walls will be filled with awards that I've gotten/ For toast-on-a-stick and my Twinkies au gratin"), a snail trainer ("Why, that's a no-brainer!"), a lathe operator, and a giraffe milker ("It's oh-so-cliché to get milk from a cow,/ And I bet all those cows need a break anyhow"). The tempo quickens when the boy begins listing rather than describing potential professions, even the most mainstream of which Hargis (Jackson and Bud's Bumpy Ride) portrays with comedic hyperbole. He offers especially outlandish depictions of Billy as gorilla masseuse, deodorant tester, and tarantula shaver. After all the wackiness, Yankovic's poem wraps up on a more realistic note, as the boy finds career inspiration closer to school. Ages 4–8.

January 1, 2011

Gr 1-3-Eight-year-old Billy has an active imagination and a host of interests. So, when it's time for show-and-tell, he can barely contain himself as he describes, nonstop, what he'd like to be when he grows up. His career choices include chef, snail trainer, lathe operator, gorilla masseuse, an artist whose preferred medium is chocolate mousse, sumo wrestler, pickle inspector...and on and on. Mrs. Krupp's attempts to call "time up" are unsuccessful. He's just getting started. Billy is still pondering vocational choices at lunchtime when he comes up with one more possibility-a great teacher like Mrs. Krupp. The story has a nice premise, but it doesn't quite live up to its potential. In addition, the rhyming text can be distracting. Well-done, realistic and colorful watercolor and ink illustrations accompany the story, but overall this book is a supplemental purchase.-Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2011
A disappointing exploration of career options from an entertainer who should know better. Maybe it has something to do with the decision to take the "Weird" out of his authorial name, but musical satirist Yankovic doesn't deliver the kind of precise zaniness adults of a certain generation will expect. Little Billy may be small in stature, but he doesn't limit his thinking when it comes to what he'll be when he grows up. As soon as Mrs. Krupp gives him the floor at show-and-tell, he grabs it and doesn't let go, reeling out a dizzying series of potential careers. Beginning with 12 rhyming couplets on what kind of a chef he might be, he follows up with snail trainer, machinist, giraffe milker, artist and on and on. At its best, the verse approaches Seussian: "maybe I'll be the lathe operator / Who makes the hydraulic torque wrench calibrator / Which fine-tunes the wrench that's specifically made / To retighten the nuts in the lateral blade." But the pacing never allows readers to stop and chuckle at the foolishness, and it doesn't leave enough room for Hargis' light, humorous cartoons to expand and ramp up the goof factor. In children's books, as in satire, less is more—here's hoping Weird Al's next effort is both tighter and funnier. (Picture book. 5-8)

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January 1, 2011
Preschool-G In his debut childrens book, the comic Weird Al Yankovic celebrates individuality in an exuberantly odd, rhyming story about an eight-year-old who cannot wait to share what he will be when he grows up. Maybe hell be a gorilla masseuse or an artist who sculpts out of chocolate mousse. As the boys fantasies about his future get wilder and wilder, Hargis hilarious, detailed illustrations in clear line and watercolor extend the uproarious nonsense, as in a scene in which the boy imagines himself as a big sumo wrestler or hedge-fund investor / Or smelly pit-sniffing deodorant tester. The pictures also show the boys strong bond with his great-grandfather, who, at 103, is still not sure what he wants to be. Along with the imaginative play, the farce and parody make this a rare book with appeal to both kids and adults.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)