In a rollicking verse, Smitty explains how hard he worked to get to school on time--braving a snowstorm, sailing through a flood in Times Square, and avoiding aliens, an escaped gorilla, and giant spiders. It's a one-joke story, but there's a neat extra twist at the end that adds to the fun. The airbrushed caricatures have a sense of exaggeration well suited to the tall tale.

In the fine tradition of John Burningham's John Patrick Norman McHennessy, The Boy Who Was Always Late (1988), a New York lad overcomes—or so he claims—all sorts of unusual obstacles to get to school, from a flood in Times Square to a Hyundai-eating robot from Mars. With photorealistic precision, Austin depicts an exaggeratedly panicked young scholar from a variety of canted and slanted points of view as he runs, flies, sails, and flails his way down city streets, and is last seen, soaked and shoeless, making his excuses to an understandably skeptical-looking teacher. Reiss lays out those excuses in breathless, if sometimes forced, verse—"I woke up at eight / In a terrible state / Sure that I'd missed my carpool"—that creates an appropriately rollicking beat. Children tardy and timely alike will laugh at this droll recitation. (Picture book. 7-9)

Gr 1-3-"My name is Smitty./I come from the city/And I live by one simple rule./I may not be smartest-/No athlete, no artist-/But I've never been late for school." On this particular day, however, the youngster faces a variety of obstacles as he races through New York City on his way to class. Reiss concocts a series of potentially hilarious hurdles-snow and floods, a ghoulish bus driver, a giant robot, a T. rex skeleton dripping with drool, and more. Unfortunately, Smitty's heroics are underwhelmed by the plodding rhymed text. With a few exceptions ("He gobbled up Hyundais/Like butterscotch sundaes"), the rhymes are facile. Austin's airbrushed acrylic illustrations are painted from off-kilter, cinematic angles, forcing readers to tilt their heads back and forth with each page turn. While imaginative and painstakingly detailed, the paintings' hyperrealism and Smitty's grotesque facial contortions come off as creepy and unappealing. The book's familiar theme, bizarre look, and predictable text might attract hi-lo readers, but it's a marginal purchase.-Eve Ortega, Cypress Library, CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.