  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 05/01/2017 PreS-Gr 2—Alice's brother thinks he is a bad guy. He wears an eye patch, traps superheroes, swallows astronauts, never apologizes, and loves to go to the library to get super bad ideas. But he is in for a shock when he finds out that not all bad guys are guys. This is a wonderfully written book with a twist ending that will charm readers. The watercolor pictures are rendered in a cartoonlike style that will appeal to young children. The intricate images convey the story well and contain several surprises that may escape notice on a first read. Each page features one simple sentence, making this book appropriate as an independent choice for early readers, and looking at the details of the pictures will keep older kids engaged. VERDICT A fun read-aloud for storytimes, this is an amusing and clever tale, enhanced by lively illustrations, that will be a good choice for most shelves.—Peggy Henderson Murphy, Wyandot Elementary School, Dublin, OH - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 05/15/2017 To prove he isn’t “Sweetie Pie” or “Buddy Bear,” as his mother dubs him, a young boy with a big imagination revels in being the “Bad Guy.” In his fantasies, he rides roughshod over superheroes, pirates, astronauts, and a sheriff—and, of course, torments his younger sister, Alice. When he actually dumps spaghetti and meatballs on Alice’s head and pretends that they are consumable brains, he is disciplined. Using library books, he plots even more ways to torture Alice, not realizing that she is plotting her own comeuppance. The convivial, sparsely detailed illustrations show characters with friendly, open faces keeping the tone humorous and far from more adult territory (aside from that homage to James Bond and Austin Powers). The boy comes across as more rascally than mean, and his behavior does not seem to come from anger, as in many other picture books of this ilk. It’s sibling rivalry with a twist; as Alice gleefully declares, after catching her brother in a snare, “Not every bad guy is a guy.” - Copyright 2017 Booklist. Loading...
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