K-Gr 5-Wow! All those dry, difficult words from the Preamble to the Constitution are made easy to understand through wild, wacky, full-color art done by a well-known political cartoonist. After a foreword and a page of definitions, Catrow uses his marvelous, witty style to create a visual delight, encouraging kids to giggle and then claim ownership of the words and the basic concepts they ensure. A black-and-white dog with droopy ears (the artist's dog, Bubbs) leads three children on a camping trip. Along the way, the pup ably shows them all the ways these ideals work today. The book concludes with a sweeping landscape of fields, mountains, and a river, and the words, "for the United States of America." A winner.-Pamela K. Bomboy, Chesterfield County Public Schools, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Serving an earnest purpose with characteristic zaniness, Catrow (Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon, 2001, etc.) twice interprets the Constitution's first sentence. First, a simple repeat of the words is accompanied by an explanatory gloss on each ringing phrase; then a series of full-bleed, neon-colored scenes lets three exuberant children and a springer spaniel act out its principles while organizing a backyard campout. The two are sandwiched between a personal foreword, in which the cartoonist describes his first encounter with the Constitution-"I remember thinking: MAN, why couldn't the guys who wrote this just use regular English?"-while assuring younger readers that its radical ideas are not beyond their comprehension and, for the Preamble's final words, a cinematic close in which the view pans away from the children, sleeping safely under parental eyes, toward distant horizons. As well as being an engaging way of removing barriers to understanding raised by the Constitution's stylized language, this makes a first-class discussion starter for many of the ideas and issues it addresses. (Picture book. 7-12)

Ages 4-8. A political cartoonist and the illustrator of picture books such as She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head! (1995) and Take Me out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs(2001), Catrow takes as his text the preamble to the Constitution and interprets it for children in a surprisingly engaging picture book. Preschoolers can enjoy the pictures alone, which portray three children and a dog trekking out on a camping expedition. Apparently in the wilderness, they are actually in the back yard. Older kids will be better able to understand and appreciate Catrow's child-friendly, three-page introduction, in which he describes the Constitution as "a kind of how-to book, showing us ways to have happiness, safety, and comfort" and "a list of rules and promises written down by people just like you and me." In simple language, he explains the meaning of each phrase in the preamble. Then the fun begins, for each double-page spread illustrates one phrase, such as "establish Justice" or "to ourselves and our Posterity," in wildly colored, well-designed pictures that bring it all down to a child's level. The exaggerated characters and witty details are entertaining on their own, but the greater purpose is achieved as well. An original interpretation of one of the sacred texts of American democracy. Carolyn Phelan.

Catrow (She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head!), who doubles as a political cartoonist, writes in his amiable introduction, "When I paint my paintings and draw my cartoons, I can do them any way I want. Being able to do that makes me very happy and very free. And I think that's exactly what all those old guys with their big words and big ideas wanted," he says, referring to the authors of the Constitution and the liberty he enjoys as a result of their efforts. Following a casual glossary (e.g., "insure domestic tranquility" means "To make sure that we can all have a nice life and get along with one another"), he takes fresh liberties he uses the Preamble as text for spry, loopy cartoons chronicling three eccentric-looking kids and a spirited pooch on a backyard camping caper. The characters review a poster outlining rules for the evening ("establish Justice"); wearing a helmet and looking bored, the dog stands guard as the kids frolic in the tent ("provide for the common defense"). And everyone snuggles under a blanket ("and secure the Blessings of Liberty") while two parents survey the placid scene from a window ("to ourselves and our Posterity"). With his customary satiric flair, Catrow inserts plentiful tongue-in-cheek visuals: a saucepan bouncing off one child's head while she sits entangled in another child's rope hardly suggests "domestic Tranquility." This zany, patriotic paean offers kids lighthearted but meaningful incentive to reflect further on the relevance of those "big words" and "big ideas." All ages. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

While CatrowÆs luridly colored caricatures of a dog and three kids on a backyard camping trip show minor humor, they completely fail to illustrate the text, the Preamble to the Constitution written verbatim. An introductory translation and CatrowÆs (patronizing) authorÆs note do a better job, although Catrow reduces freedom to being able to paint or draw any way I want. From HORN BOOK Fall 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.