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Summary
Summary
Meet Jumpy Jack, a very nervous snail who's afraid of monsters, and Googily, who is a--well, who is a very good friend, indeed. Wherever they go, Googily kindly checks high and low just to make sure there are no scary monsters about. But as every child knows, monsters come in many shapes and sizes. Some are even blue with hairy eyebrows and pointy teeth.
Jumpy Jack & Googily is a universal story of friendship and fear of the unknown told with wit and charm by the fantastic team who created the irresistible Meet Wild Boars .
Author Notes
Meg Rosoff was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 16, 1956. She studied at Harvard University, but left for England in 1977 to take classes at Central St. Martin's College of Art and Design. She returned to finish her degree in English and fine arts at Harvard University. She worked in New York City for 10 years in publishing and advertising, before moving to England.
Her first novel, How I Live Now, was published in 2004 and won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. Her other novels include What I Was, The Bride's Farewell, There Is No Dog, Moose Baby, and Picture Me Gone. Just in Case won the 2007 Carnegie Medal. She won the 2016 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. She is also the author of a picture book entitled Meet Wild Boars and co-author of a non-fiction book entitled London Guide: Your Passport to Great Travel.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Jumpy Jack is a snail with buck teeth and a paralyzing fear of monsters. His friend Googily is a round, blue creature with sharp teeth, wild eyebrows, tentacle-like fingers, a bowler hat, and a kind heart. As they make their way home through a sunlit landscape, Jumpy Jack repeatedly stops and asks his friend to check for monsters before they proceed. Googily patiently complies, and there is much visual humor in the contrast between his large features looming up from behind windows and doors ("No monsters here! Or here!") and the snail's relieved response: "Phew!" This contrast also highlights the irrationality of Jumpy Jack's fears, and the power of a trusted friend to allay them. At the end of the day, the pals settle down to sleep, and it's Jack's turn to reassure Googily. The interplay between the two creates a wonderfully safe space for children to explore their fears. Youngsters will quickly pick up on the repetition, and the story may provide an opportunity for them to discuss their own "monsters." The text, which consists entirely of dialogue, employs a formal elevated tone that gently chides Jumpy Jack's childish fears, adding an element of dry humor. The illustrations are filled with whimsical details, from Googily's dapper wardrobe to the characters' matching dolls. The calm, slightly muted palette, along with the friendly expressiveness of the protagonists' faces, sends the subtle message that there is truly nothing here to fear.-Rachael Vilmar, Eastern Shore Regional Library, Salisbury, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Irony reigns in this droll story as a trepidatious green snail named Jumpy Jack consults his frightful-looking blue buddy. "There could be a monster nearby and I'm scared of monsters," Jumpy Jack admits. "Don't be ridiculous," says Googily. As the pals wend their way through flowery meadows and head home for tea, Jumpy Jack reiterates his fear, asking Googily to check in a wading pool, under the supper table, under one of their twin beds (Jumpy Jack's has a snail-accessible ramp), etc. Each time Jumpy Jack's description of the dreaded monster grows closer to Googily himself ("It might have sharp teeth and horrible scary hair.... two fingers on each hand... [an] awful tongue"). Acting out each scenario, Googily provides quaint reassurance. "I don't know where you get your ideas," he says, or "Dear, oh, dear... What an imagination you have!" As in Meet Wild Boars, Rosoff and Blackall make a waggish team in the Laurie Keller mold, with Rosoff comically understating the obvious and Blackall providing visual punch lines. For all Jumpy Jack's naivete and Googily's weirdness, they make a winsome pair. Ages 3-8. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Snail Jumpy Jack is afraid there's a monster behind a tree, under the table, etc. At each stumbling point his friend Googily reassures him. What Jumpy Jack doesn't realize (though readers will): Googily himself is a (not-too-scary) monster. After such child-friendly humor, the flat ending is a letdown. Blackall illustrates this disarming look at fear with precision and a surrealist's eye. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
The same duo that created Meet Wild Boars (2005) is back with a tale of two friends proceeding through their day. Googily, whose blue color, long tongue and sharp teeth mark him as an oddball indeed, accompanies Jumpy Jack, a snail whose nervousness is mostly in his eyes and his imagination. Jumpy Jack sees monsters in many nooks and crannies, asking Googily to investigate. At bedtime, fear of monsters is at its height, tables are turned and that's when all comes to a head--or is it a foot? That Googily is a monster himself is unacknowledged in the text but made clear in Blackall's ink-and-watercolor illustrations, in which he embodies Jumpy Jack's fears. "What if there is a monster with two fingers on each hand, who stares at me through the letterbox and sticks out its awful tongue?" quavers the snail, to which Googily utters the repeated refrain, "No monsters here," even as he does exactly that. A humorous tamer of monsters that will leave everyone saying, "Phew," along with Jumpy Jack. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Jumpy Jack is a snail who is worried about monsters. Is there one behind that tree? Floating in the wading pool? Hiding in the house? Happily, Jumpy Jack has a friend, Googily, who is willing to check out all the places monsters might be hiding. The joke is that Googily is a monster himself, a fact that goes unnoticed by both. Mistaken monsters is a picture-book subgenre all its own, but the considerable talents of Rosoff and Blackall elevate this from the rest. Cavorting on creamy-colored backgrounds, the fang-toothed, blue-skinned Googily and timid Jack (a bit googly-eyed himself) milk all the deadpan humor out of the situation. Young ones will adore getting the joke and perceiving themselves smarter than the protagonists. The funniest moments come when Jack asks specific questions: What if a monster stares at me through the letterbox and sticks out his awful tongue? That will never happen, Googily assures him, then proceeds to do just that.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2008 Booklist