On the Town: A Community Adventure was published in 2002 (Greenwillow Books) and written/illustrated by Judith Caseley.
Charlie gets an assignment from his teacher and has to lug around his notebook around town with Mama. He goes from place to place with Mama and observes life. He makes sure to draw examples of everything he sees. By the end, Charlie appreciates life in his small town. The end.
I found Charlie to be a really obnoxious kid and it doesn’t help that the mother complimenting him on every thing he says. Charlie says “Barber shop!” and the mother responds by saying he’s “so smart”. Charlie says “Post office,” and the mother says “My genius”. Charlie says “Train station!” and the mother compliments him by saying, “What a brain!”. By the end of the story I was exhausted from hearing the mother’s remarks. Kids that read this will probably do the same thing. Are you prepared to respond to your kids after they blurt out words like these?
I guess the author just had to promote her own book, Bully, towards the end of the story (the mother cheerfully reads the book with Charlie). Couldn’t Judith Caseley have promoted a different one of her books?
The illustrations are well done in this story except for the boy climbing the tree on page two. The boy looks like a grown man and I can’t see the fun of climbing this tree since it looks like it’s only a meter high.
On the inside of the front jacket, there’s a note that this book is for children five and up.
The text on the front jacket looks awful since it’s difficult to make out the title of the book. I’m wondering why they kerned certain words so tightly.
On the Town: A Community Adventure is trying to make a point about how the simple things around you are actually interesting. Charlie is a super keener and draws things and people around town in his notebook. I think this is a good thing and hopefully some kids that read this book will do likewise.
If you can stand the conversations with Charlie and his mother, you might enjoy reading this book to your child/children.
