School Library Journal Starred Review

K-Gr 3-Ingenious artwork-a flawless marriage of digital imagery and pen-and-ink-is indisputably the focus of this winning title. In it, an incorrigible little girl lists all the bright ideas she's ever had and the various ways they've gotten her into trouble. From stapling her brother's hair to his pillow (no more stapler) to gluing his slippers to the floor (no more glue), her outside-the-box thinking attracts plenty of attention, all of it negative. Carpenter brings depth and texture to each spread by adjusting photo-realistic elements to scale and embedding them into the art. The effect is both striking and subtle-"real" wood grain, blades of grass, the chrome-plated details on classroom furniture-all are seamlessly integrated around a winsome cast of well-drawn characters. Some picture books are overconceptualized, overdesigned, and generally overdone, but this one is just about picture-perfect.-Catherine Threadgill, Charleston County Public Library, SC Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

ALA Booklist

Offill's little narrator staples her brother's hair to his pillow, walks backward across the pedestrian crossing, and shows Joey Whipple her underpants when she does handstands in the schoolyard. Clear line-and-watercolor spreads add to the fun as the outrageous little rebel lies and boasts in class and washes her hands in the dog's dinner bowl. When she talks about freezing a dead fly in an ice cube, the picture shows her little brother drinking from a glass that contains an ice cube. She is unfazed by all the scowls she gets for acting up, though she says I'm sorry to her mom at the end. In the sweet pink picture of their warm embrace, however, she is plainly looking over her shoulder at the reader as she reaches for that stapler.

Kirkus Reviews

A lass tallies her pranks and ensuing punishments in this Judith Viorstlike plaint. Actually, "punishments" is too strong a word, as stapling her little brother's hair to his pillow, showing her underpants to classmate Jeremy and then later setting his shoe on fire with a magnifying glass seems to draw no retribution beyond commands not to do it again: "I am not allowed to use the glue anymore." Some of her misdemeanors are very funny: "I am not allowed to give the gift of cauliflower anymore." But some actually earn real punishments: a school detention and an escort home by the crossing guard. Finally, when she says the opposite of what she really means—"I'm sorry"—she earns forgiveness. Carpenter uses ink, paint and clipped photos to create energetic scenes featuring a deceptively winning young narrator with short, messy hair and, usually, a confident or smug expression. Some readers may find this young envelope-pusher entertainingly spirited, but there are sure to be those who are going to balk at the notion of pretending to be sorry and having it work. (Picture book. 6-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

The title is terrifically cheeky, and Carpenter (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Fannie in the Kitchen) outdoes herself in these mixed-media illustrations. The unnamed heroine, who resembles a cross between Ramona Quimby and Eloise, generates the title list as a result of her free-spirited, rule-breaking notions. "I had an idea to staple my brother's hair to his pillow," accompanies a photo-collage image of a stapler clamping onto a pillow corner, with a pen-and-ink drawing of the brother's sleeping face. Opposite, the boy, bound into his pillowcase, clings to his mother: "I am not allowed to use the stapler anymore." Offill (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Last Things, for adults), making her children's book debut, follows with a litany of forbidden behavior encompassing everything from not being allowed to make ice cubes ("I had an idea to freeze a dead fly in the ice cube tray") to not being allowed "to talk (even a little bit) about beavers anymore" (because she "had an idea that [she] might run away to live with the kind and happy beavers"). Carpenter uses a fluid, elegant ink line to convey an impressive repertoire of expressions—she's equally adept at portraying a playground tattletale and a mom at the end of her rope. Kids will be intrigued by the pictures' playful sense of composition as well as the heroine's brazenness, but may be caught off-guard by the abrupt conclusion. Ages 4-8. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Dec.)