Rules of the House

February 8, 2016
Barnett focuses his inimitable blend of energy and fiendish imagination on children’s fascination with the rules. The scene is a vacation cabin with a posted set of regulations. Keep the rug clean, scrub the bathtub, feed the wood box, and “Never—ever—open the red door.” Younger brother Ian is a rule-follower who tucks his shirt in and always packs his toothbrush. Jenny, his older sister, breaks all the rules—and she pinches, too. After she defiantly opens the red door, the rug, bathtub, and woodstove transformed into large-as-life monsters that are ready to eat her (“ ‘Rulebreaker soup for dinner,’ they sang.... It wasn’t a very clever song, but the tune was catchy”). Underdog Ian comes to her rescue by cowing the monsters with Socratic reasoning: “Don’t you guys have toothbrushes?” he asks. “When you break the Toothbrush Rule, very bad things happen.” Myers’s acrylics revel in horror-movie parody, like the hellish light emitted by the red door and the bearskin rug stalking the siblings in their bunk beds. No solemn moralizing, just a rib-tickling, slightly subversive readaloud. Ages 3–5. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.

April 1, 2016
Rules are meant to be followed, but when monsters threaten to eat your sister, a little transgression might be in order. The old mountain cabin where self-righteous Ian and his savage pincher of a big sister, Jenny, come for a stay has four posted rules: don't track mud on the bearskin rug; don't leave hair in the tub drain; replace any wood burned in the stove; and especially, don't open a certain red door. No problem for Ian, a rule follower to the nth degree...but Jenny is a poster child for mutinous, ill-tempered preadolescence, and in no time she's broken all four. That night she's snatched out of bed by a toothy bear, a frowning tub, and a cast iron stove with jack-o'-lantern eyes to be boiled up into "rulebreaker soup." Just deserts, you say? So thinks Ian, at first. But he stops in his headlong flight to reflect that even if there isn't a rule about always saving one's sister from monsters, maybe there should be. Ian returns to compromise his principles with a little fib about a bigger monster that sends the three animated furnishings hustling back through the red door. Along with comically exaggerating the contrast between the red-haired, annoyingly tidy lad and his scowling sib, Myers pitches the two white kids against a trio of deliciously menacing boojums in atmospherically moonlit rustic settings. Jenny isn't exactly reformed afterward, but at least her pinches aren't as painful. Readers will (probably) agree that even the most irritating siblings don't deserve to be cooked and eaten. As a rule. (Picture book. 6-8)

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June 1, 2016

K-Gr 2-Ian likes rules. His older sister Jenny does not. The woodsy vacation house where their family is spending the summer comes with a posted set of rules, including a prohibition against opening a certain red door. Naturally, Jenny ignores all the rules, even the one about the red door. Her defiant opening of this door during an argument with Ian changes the genre of the story from realistic to fantastical, as all the household devices whose rules she's ignored ("Remove muddy shoes before you enter the house") come alive, each claiming that it will have rule-breaking Jenny for dinner. As the errant rug and appliances chop vegetables and sing made-up songs, Ian saves the day by citing a rule that they themselves have broken, giving Jenny the opportunity to help scare the creatures away. An early page showing trails through the woods literally causes the plot to wander, but occasional pages featuring just one line of text add suspenseful pacing. Painterly illustrations quickly transform frightening images into comical ones, creating a mixture of silliness and creepiness-and alert viewers will notice the red eyes on the stove and rug just before they awaken. VERDICT A scary but silly sibling story about times when breaking the rules might just be okay. The perfect read to prepare for a stay at a vacation house.-Jill Ratzan, Congregation Kol Emet, Yardley, PA

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2016
Grades K-2 *Starred Review* In this pseudo horror picture book, Ian, who is a consummate rule-follower, and his sister, Jenny, who is not, take a family vacation to a house in the woods. There are plenty of rules to follow ( Remove muddy shoes, Replace any firewood you burn ), and Ian is happy to oblige. But Jenny breaks the most important rule of all: Nevereveropen the red door. That night, the objects in the house come to life, determined to make rulebreaker soup out of Jenny and eat her for dinner. Ian does the only sensible thing a little brother can do: he runs away. But rules or no rules, that doesn't feel like the right thing to do. Barnett and Myers (Battle Bunny, 2013, with Jon Scieszka) have created a winning tale of sibling rivalry and, ultimately, loyalty. Barnett's trademark dry humor appears in full force, and Myers' illustrations are wonderfully detailed. Ian's holier-than-thou rule-following tendencies are evidenced by his perfectly parted hair and neatly made bed (a Do Not Remove tag in display on the mattress), in stark contrast to Jenny's messy ponytail and filthy shoes. The denizens of the housea bearskin rug, a shower, and a potbellied stovequickly shift from unassuming to ominous. Kids will eat this upwhile hoping, of course, not to get eaten themselves. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Anything with Barnett's name on it is going to be big, and this latest from a best-selling duo will walk itself right off the shelves.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
When obedient Ian's older, obnoxious sister breaks the "rules of the house" posted at their spooky vacation place, she awakens some monsters intent on eating her. Ian's moral crisis--why save someone who broke the rules?--resolves with his toothbrush-abetted plan to turn the tables on the monsters. The elaborately clever tale's macabre mood is enhanced by textured, shadow-drenched art.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)