ALA Booklist (Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2003)

Anyone who, like Goldilocks, has ever had trouble finding a spot that's just right will sympathize with the young protagonist of this lively rhyming story. All the boy wants to do is sit down and read his new book, but his old chair is too small, the dog's hogging Grammy's chair, Daddy's chair is underneath a cold-blasting ceiling fan, and Auntie's rocking chair makes him seasick. Where will he go to read? The backyard is great-- / I can read on the grass. / I'll sit on a patio chair. / It's the sprinklers--OH, NO!--splashing me head to toe, / So now it's too wet to read there. In the end he finds the best place to read of all--Mom's lap. Reminiscent of Daniel Kirk's work, the crisp, comical illustrations, featuring a redheaded boy and his unread book Silly Bird , are a winning match for this tightly rhymed saga of seeking and finding.

Horn Book (Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2003)

A little boy looking for a place to read auditions many unsatisfactory seats (Grandpa's lumpy old armchair, his brother's leaky beanbag chair, etc.) before he finds his mother's lap. The premise is engaging, but it's hard to find some of the rhymes' rhythms, and the feeling of security that the authors are aiming for is undermined by the synthetic quality of the images throughout.

Kirkus Reviews

If a good man is hard to find, that's nothing compared to a good reading chair, as Bertram and Bloom's youthful protagonist discovers when he goes looking for the right place to read his new book. Using an ear-pleasing rhyme scheme, readers follow the boy from chair to chair as each presents a problem: "A new book for me— / I can't wait to read! / I run to my own little chair. / I'm growing too tall and the seat is too small, / So I am not comfortable there." As seen through the illustrations, a slick fusion of soft and razor-edged computer images that sport electric coloring and quirky shading, the boy travels through his house, finding each chair encumbered by animals, noise, burst seams, sprinkler systems, disruptive siblings, and wayward springs. But he is a dogged soul, pushing on until he comes to an undeniably fine spot for a youngster to curl up with a book: "The best place to be, just my book, Mom, and me—" It's a sweet ending, one that avoids being mawkish because it has been so hard-won. (Picture book. 3-6)

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-A young boy describes his dilemma: he has a new book, but can't seem to find a comfortable and quiet place to read it. Like Goldilocks, he finds various seats too small, too chilly, too wobbly, or already occupied. The singsong verses describe how he rejects one spot after another as a spring in the old armchair comes loose under him, a lawn sprinkler turns on next to him, and his brother's beanbag chair explodes beneath him. The lighthearted artwork has the flat look of computer graphics, and some of the images seem slightly out of focus. Despite a satisfactory ending (the boy and his mother read together in a cozy chair), the overall effect is wearing, as the slight, single-minded plot barely manages to sustain interest. Still, young readers will enjoy exploring the colorful details that fill this child's world. A mixed effort that's mildly appealing.-Kathie Meizner, Montgomery County Public Libraries, Chevy Chase, MD Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.