Synopses & Reviews
Kindly Farmer Puckett has always hauled a wagonload of fireworks to the town's Independence Day Social. His no-nonsense wife has always worn her holiday hat. But the year the farmer acquires a hu-mon-gous new mule to do the hauling, all traditions are out the window. Jake Johnson arrives on the farm, sits--and stays seated. He hollers for food, but otherwise comes to resemble "a big, hairy rock." No enticement works to budge him: not pitchfork prods, not horn honks, not even extra rations. As July Fourth nears, Mrs. Puckett steams, "There's just one thing we haven't tried." But Jake Johnson has the last, braying word as, tall-tale-true, that one thing sparks the "best lit-up Independence Day Social there ever was." The battle of wills and wits is sure to have young children roaring--and suitably in awe at the raucous, funny fireworks finale.
Review
Carrington's bright acrylic paintings are hilarious, from the American Gothic parody on the cover to the inventive permutations of the buck-toothed, wide-eyed, lip-licking sedentary mule. A light read-aloud treat just right for the tail end of the school year. (School Library Journal, April 99)
Review
Wonderfully illustrated with country-tinged, yet hip depictions of a farm couple and a lazy mule named Jake, this tall tale is full of dry wit. . . . Kids will love Jake Johnson's stubbornness and laugh at the farmer's plaintive pleas. (Copley News Service, July 99)
About the Author
Tres Seymour has written a variety of picture-book stories, from the School Library Journal Best Book of the year Hunting the White Cow, illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin to his own The Gulls of the Edmund Fitzgerald. He lives with his wife and young son in Munfordville, Kentucky, an area he has paid tribute to in Black Sky River and We Played Marbles, both illustrated by Dan Andreasen. Marsha Gray Carrington, a one-time film animator, makes her picture-book debut with this infectious feast of color, action, and characterization. Her work has appeared on many witty greeting cards. She is familiar with farmland near her native Richmond, Virginia, but now lies in Los Angeles among animals no larger (or more stubborn) than a basenji, barkless, and a loud-talkin' cat.