How to Get a Job...by Me, the Boss

June 27, 2011
The wise-beyond-her-years heroine who addressed the finer points of getting married and having a baby in her previous books now tackles the job market. "ometimes a Job is so you can get all dressed up and wear your new shoes to work," she explains. The narrator covers big jobs (like "President of the World") and small jobs (like "Balloon Holder") alike, and is highly encouraging ("You could be a Cowboy or an Explorer.... Or actually anything you want!"), while giving a nod to a few exceptions ("you shouldn't be a Robber"). Heap's acrylic, paint, and crayon illustrations are as energetic and quirky as the Boss herself, whose charmingly askew perspective includes some genuine adviceâand remains as funny as ever. Ages 4â8.

August 1, 2011

PreS-Gr 2-The bossy narrator from How to Be a Baby-by Me the Big Sister (2007) and How to Get Married-by Me the Bride (2009, both Random) explains to her friends and baby brother how to get a job. Wearing big round glasses and striped pink and gray tights with her gray skirt and too-big heels, the Boss sits on her desk and explains that "A Job is so you can have something to do and get money for your family. And sometimes a Job is so you can get all dressed up and wear your new shoes to work." Her playroom is full of boxes containing all of the goodies needed to explore all sorts of vocations-from Cowboy to Explorer and Super-Ballerina-Soccer-Mermaid-Fairy Princess (our Boss's position of choice) to Magician. She offers sound advice as she counsels that "a good job to get is something you love" and tells her baby brother that you shouldn't be a "World-Famous Chef if you can't even cook cereal." She and her friends continue trying on trades that all kids play at as she explains what the work involves. Then the Boss goes through the steps of writing a resume and interviewing. The illustrations are perfectly rendered in childlike acrylic paint and crayons and show the fun details of imaginative play on a rainy day. Fans of the previous titles will not be disappointed.-Kristine M. Casper, Huntington Public Library, NY

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2011
In this successor to two other How to... books, the narrator, a "Super-Ballerina-Soccer-Mermaid-Fairy Princess," introduces a wealth of professions. The joke--basically the narrator's serious articulation of silly ideas ("You shouldn't EVER bite the Boss when he is talking to you")--goes on a little long, but there are lots of funny moments. Heap's vignettes of kids demonstrating the jobs are entertaining.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)