Review - Just a Minute

Just a Minute
by Bonny Becker
illustrated by Jack E. Davis
Date: 2003
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: Open Library

"I'll be just a minute!" Johnny MacGuffin's mother calls as she sails away past the purses and plates, up the up escalator in Bindle's department store.Johnny is stuck waiting again.

The minutes crawl and soon Johnny is sure days have flown by, and months have come and gone. He's waited so long that he's even grown up, bought a house on the hill, and had kids!

Bonny Becker reminds us all how hard and how funny waiting can be. Jack E. Davis's frenetic illustrations capture Johnny's overactive imagination perfectly and will have readers laughing out loud.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I picked this book up because I've enjoyed Bonny Becker's Bear and Mouse books. But this is just weak. It's all about a kid who's so impatient, he starts coming up with ever more outlandish ideas about how long his mom's been shopping. It gets to the point of ridiculousness, and though I well remember how interminable waiting could seem when I was a child, I don't like how this book portrays the passage of time. First, it implies that going through puberty makes one a "freak" (great message!) and then it goes on to basically describe the end of the world, with earthquakes and the sun burning out. I absolutely hated that sort of stuff when I was a kid, being a worrier and all.

The pictures are okay, and illustrate the ridiculous story well enough. I guess.

Stick with Bear and Mouse. This book is pretty forgettable.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall: 2.33 out of 5