Nice Try, Charlie!

September 1, 2020

PreS-Gr 2-Charlie, a white adult, collects discarded items in his urban neighborhood and looks for things to do with them. As he makes his way through the streets wearing a large green hat and yellow boots and pushing a cart full of found objects, Charlie interacts with a diverse cast of community members. His neighbor, Aunt Myrtle, an older Black woman who uses a motorized wheelchair, notices a box on the street that happens to have a large pie inside, and much of the story focuses on Charlie's quest to find out who the pie belongs to. Eventually, neighbors come together and eat the pie (ignoring the fact that it's probably not a good idea to dine on food found on the street). The colorful illustrations depict a lively city setting filled with apartment buildings, a tuba player, birds, and kind neighbors. The pictures are full of texture and are presented in different ways: two-page spreads, small comics-style panels, and cut-outs layered over other illustrations or photos of city backgrounds. The text is small and sometimes set off to the side in colored boxes, making it difficult to read. The goal of this book isn't clear. The implication is that Charlie is homeless, but that is never explained and could confuse young readers. Charlie is kind and helpful to others, but despite the title of this book, it's not really clear what he is trying to do or accomplish. VERDICT The illustrations of an energetic urban neighborhood are lively and engaging, but the story falls flat.-Melanie Kletter, School Library Journal

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2020
Repeated attempts yield enjoyable rewards. That's apparently the moral of this Canadian import, in which Charlie, an itinerant collector, gathers stuff into his cart in his urban neighborhood and tries to reuse it. From her window, Aunt Myrtle spots a pie in a box on the sidewalk. Charlie wants to eat it but, reminded by Aunt Myrtle the pie's not his, instead attempts to find the owner on his rounds. Charlie tries to help a girl retrieve her ball; he can't, though he learns the pie isn't hers. He fashions a birdbath from a tire--but the pie doesn't belong to the birds nor to a kid who plays the tuba badly. Having failed to locate the pie's owner, Charlie returns home. In a pat conclusion, Aunt Myrtle invites the community to gather for a pastry feast. This tale, narrated in present tense, meanders with Charlie; seemingly, its point is to keep trying. Fair enough, but some may feel it should also have strongly tried to dissuade readers from eating food found on streets, boxed or not. Loose, quirky, colorful illustrations, some in panels, depict broad overviews of a city; some are superimposed on photos of urban backgrounds. Dialogue is often set in colored boxes. Brown-bearded Charlie presents white and is casually attired in a green ten-gallon hat and yellow boots; other characters are racially diverse. Aunt Myrtle is a black woman who uses a motorized wheelchair. (This book was reviewed digitally with 12-by-17.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 75% of actual size.) Nice try, but there's not much here to encourage repeat reads, even with pie. (Picture book. 4-7)

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July 1, 2020
Sporting a full beard, shaggy hair, and a wide-brimmed hat, Charlie roams his neighborhood finding things: an old television, a pair of mismatched oven mitts (and Aunt Myrtle's cat). He looks for uses for his finds; "sometimes he finds it harder than he'd like to admit, but he tries." James (I Know Here, rev. 5/10; The Funeral) uses dry wit, tight pacing, and warmth to turn the story of a neighborhood junk collector into an extraordinary slice of what community can, and does, look like. When Charlie finds a pie, complete in its bakery box, he looks for its owner, in the process making some "nice tries" at helping others with problems. Eventually, Charlie and his neighbors enjoy the fluffy lemon meringue confection. Illustrations created with heavy strokes of acrylic and gouache, with collage elements of cardboard, tape, and photographs, add texture and detail to individualize each character. James varies the perspective: readers look through a restaurant window at Charlie walking down the street and, later, straight down at a circle of hands reaching for forks and plates. The variety in the illustrations as well as the broad brushstrokes create a feeling of the strength and distinctiveness of the people and their neighborhood. This is a notable story of the small events and special people that bind communities.

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2020
Sporting a full beard, shaggy hair, and a wide-brimmed hat, Charlie roams his neighborhood finding things: an old television, a pair of mismatched oven mitts (and Aunt Myrtle's cat). He looks for uses for his finds; "sometimes he finds it harder than he'd like to admit, but he tries." James (I Know Here, rev. 5/10; The Funeral) uses dry wit, tight pacing, and warmth to turn the story of a neighborhood junk collector into an extraordinary slice of what community can, and does, look like. When Charlie finds a pie, complete in its bakery box, he looks for its owner, in the process making some "nice tries" at helping others with problems. Eventually, Charlie and his neighbors enjoy the fluffy lemon meringue confection. Illustrations created with heavy strokes of acrylic and gouache, with collage elements of cardboard, tape, and photographs, add texture and detail to individualize each character. James varies the perspective: readers look through a restaurant window at Charlie walking down the street and, later, straight down at a circle of hands reaching for forks and plates. The variety in the illustrations as well as the broad brushstrokes create a feeling of the strength and distinctiveness of the people and their neighborhood. This is a notable story of the small events and special people that bind communities. Maeve Visser Knoth

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)