Jonathan Cleaned Up — Then He Heart a Sound
by Robert Munsch
illustrated by Michael Martchenko
Date: 1981
Publisher: Annick Press
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library
Jonathan's efforts to keep his apartment clean are foiled when a subway unexpectedly stops in and unloads thousands of passengers. Jonathan sets out on a surprising adventure to solve this curious problem.
(synopsis from Goodreads)
I remember this book from when I was a kid, all the way back in the 1980s. Unfortunately, though the basic premise is pretty amusing, the story is dated. Very dated.
Jonathan's mother goes out to buy a can of noodles. She tells her son not to make a mess. But no sooner has she left than Jonathan hears a noise coming from the other side of the wall. He listens carefully... and then the wall opens up and a rather homogeneous group of white people pour into the room as if it's a subway station! It makes an incredible mess. Jonathan's mother comes home, sees the mess, tells her son to clean it up, and then goes out to buy another can of noodles (yeah, I know... just go with it). Another train full of passengers drops off its load in the living room, and makes an even bigger mess. Eventually, Jonathan gets annoyed and tells the conductor that his house is not a subway station. The conductor tells him it must be, since the subway stops there. So Jonathan heads to City Hall to try to fix the problem.
The mayor gives Jonathan the same answer as the conductor, and adds that the computer says his house is a subway station. So Jonathan goes in search of the computer. It turns out to be a huge, room-hogging machine full of reel-to-reel tapes that makes a whole bunch of noise. Not that it works, anyway; despite paying $10 million for it, it doesn't work at all. (Shades of the Phoenix pay system right there... Maybe that part of the story isn't so dated after all!)
Of course everything gets sorted out, and there's a cute twist at the end. But I'm not sure if this book holds up as well as some of the other Munsch/Martchenko titles from the 1980s. The ancient computer is going to look completely foreign to kids, and the lack of diversity in the subway riders is kind of confusing (it's not like there were no minorities in major cities in the 1980s). The overall story is amusing, though, and if you can overlook the dated elements of the book and read it as a relic from a not-too-distant past, you might enjoy it.
Quotable moment:
Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 4/5
Enjoyment: 4/5
Overall: 3.67 out of 5
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