SO FEW OF ME (PICTURE BOOK)

PICTURE BOOK
SO FEW OF ME by Peter H. Reynolds (Candlewick)

This was my real-life Sunday to-do list:

prepare Vive la Paris review copies for mailing
Prepare author study for Gail Carson Levine
Prepare middle school myth/fable/folktale lesson
Blog-a-day
Gather picture books for the week (undersea theme)
Finish painting bedroom
Go shopping, get:
Coffee pot
New appointment book
Blue watercolor/sponges (for undersea art)
Wet wipes (for cleanup of undersea art)
Paper
Toothpaste
Drop cloth
Laundry detergent
Pomegranates (for mythology lesson)
Lunch stuff for week
Call guys about getting e-mail fixed
Russell's soccer game at 2:30

So much for a day of rest! I'll bet your t0-do list is at least as long. Oh, the pain of this modern condition! That is why Peter Reynold's latest book is a special gift to all overscheduled children and grown-up listmakers gone awry. Leo is a busy lad, and "no matter how hard he worked, there was always more to do." So he does what anyone in his situation would: he wishes for a clone. Two is better than one, but what if there were three? Or four? Five Leos could get the job done...and eight work furiously (who knew eight Leos would be eight times the work?). The spread of nine Leos trying to write, play soccer, make phone calls, practice music, take care of pets, clean up and go shopping is a hoot (albiet a painfully familiar hoot). Exhausted, Leo finally falls asleep, and awakens to a chiding: "Dreaming was NOT on the list!" But what would happen if Leo held on to his dream? "What if I did less--- but I did my best?"

Huh, Peter Reynolds is one to talk, being among the most creative and hard-working people in the industry: writing and illustrating children's books, running a bookstore, facilitating creativity seminars, running an animation/media company...I am sure his to-do list is as long as Santa's! I can only imagine this book must have been inspired by a very timely dream to have more time to enjoy every minute, and not just fill it. Be sure to stop and smell the endpapers, too; the front pages are a to-do list to end all to-do lists, and the other side, well, what can I say? It's a salute to the to-don't list. Sigh! Teachers and type-A's, please, please, treat yourself, and consider Leo's inspiring, life-altering question. (6 and up)

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