School Library Journal (Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

PreS-Gr 2 Rat-a-tat-tat! Make way for Joshua James and his tool belt and hard hat! In this lighthearted and innovative story, Joshua (aka Mr. Fix-It) tinkers with broken household items and manages a checklist on his clipboard. One day, he tries to concoct a mechanism that dumps his sister's smelly diapers from the house into the outdoor garbage can. Once his plan is in place, the wheels start turning and the Fix-It Man is on the case. Two silly critters, assumed to be household pets, dillydally across each page either assisting the children or taking part in mischievous activities, which adds even more humor. Some of the content is displayed in comic book layout, along with some catchy onomatopoeia to grab readers' attention. Joshua's contraptions are each illustrated in a sequential order of lettered parts that could help children follow along with the mechanics of inventive construction. The children and animals are drawn with cartoonlike characteristics, such as oversize heads and squat legs, while watercolor and ink illustrations cover each spread. The subjects of brothers and sisters and apologies are explored as the story progresses, demonstrating what can go wrong when things don't go as planned. VERDICT Pair with Andrea Beaty's Ada Twist, Scientist for a terrific session on the trial and error of tinkering and problem-solving. A recommended general purchase. Krista Welz, North Bergen High School, NJ

Kirkus Reviews

Stuff happens. Things break, but fixing them can be as much fun as breaking them, sometimes.Young, bespectacled Joshua James is a fix-it kind of kid. Not only can he mend the chair and get the couch-pillow bridge back up, but he is an inventor as well. Getting out of bed can be a drag, so why not invent a Rube Goldberg–ian device to make the day's entrance exciting? In Chung's busy, clever illustrations, Joshua James' cockamamie plans use physics and gerbils to get the job done. Hood's text is a different matter. The rhymes are tired ("Joshua James is the Fix-It Man. / If he can't fix it, no one can!") and tonally out of sync with the smart ebullience of the illustrations. There are also elements of the narrative that are strangely wayward: when Joshua James' baby sister runs afoul of a pulley, Joshua James apologizes; when Joshua James' dad takes a header after stepping on a skateboard the Fix-It Man left on the walk, readers are told, "Everyone goofs, and things can break. / Even dads can make mistakes!" Yeah, Dad, watch where you're walking. The characters all have brown hair and light skin. Think of it as a cautionary tale. If you can fix a chair, you can put away the skateboard. (Picture book. 4-8)

ALA Booklist (Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

Joshua James is a fixer: he makes repairs, and he invents and builds as well. To "fix" the problem of his younger sister's smelly diapers, he hatches Operation: Dump the Diapers, a fantastical plan that involves a series of pulleys, cranes, Ferris wheels, and many more simple machines to get the diapers removed from the house. J.J. is a hands-on operator, tweaking his invention as needed and comforting his sister when she has a mishap. After the invention is successfully put in motion, the hatching of a bird's egg demonstrates how nature "fixes" things. The brief text is in a jaunty rhyming format, and its enthusiasm is mirrored in the illustrations. The digitally enhanced mixed-media pictures work on two levels: for those interested in a quick read, the cartoon-style illustrations show J.J. happily involved in various tasks, while schematic-style drawings are included throughout to give a detailed view of J.J.'s inventions. This will have broad appeal, especially for those who like to have a tool in their hands.