Synopses & Reviews
Jerry's father is a creative genius, always thinking of ways to make life more interesting. But when he starts building a jungle gym that gets taller and taller, twisting all the way up to the sky, the soaring spectacle makes Jerry seriously squeamish.
Jerrys jungle gym jitters get worse when he sees fearless friends and acrobatic animals hanging from tires and riding through tunnels. The overgrown obstacle course is scary enough for Jerry, but when a fire traps his daredevil sister in the towering contraption, only Jerry can save her. Can he summon the courage to rise to the occasion, or will the jungle gym jitters paralyze him?
- Combining the luminosity of Chris Van Allsburg and the inventiveness of William Joyce, Chuck Richards blazes onto the picture-book scene in this memorable debut.
- Jaw-dropping details will leave readers, young and old, awestruck as they pore over every page.
- Children will love the alliterative text and message about overcoming ones fears.
Review
"The rhymed text...is awkward, and the boy's protracted jitters don't allow for much of an emotional range...There is not enough storytelling going on in the visuals to sustain interest through the pedestrian and predictable narrative." School Library Journal
Review
"Reminiscent of Chris Van Allsburg's black-and-white artwork (although Richards emphasizes shades of blue), these intricate, innovative pictures are a melange of images that invites kids to keep looking." Booklist
Review
"The rhymed text is nothing special, but children will pore delightedly over the teeming artwork. The playful, plainly competent George makes a refreshing change of pace from the way dads are usually portrayed." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[I]t is Chuck Richards's marvelous drawings constantly surprising, consistently engaging and madly thrilling that triumph in the end." David Small, The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
Richards blazes onto the picture book scene with this memorable debut about a boy whose father builds a towering jungle gym. His jitters worsen when he sees fearless friends and acrobatic animals hanging from tires and riding through tunnels. Full color.
Synopsis
Jerrys father is a creative genius, always thinking of ways to make life more interesting. But when he starts building a jungle gym that gets taller and taller, twisting all the way up to the sky, the soaring spectacle makes Jerry seriously squeamish.
Jerrys jungle gym jitters get worse when he sees fearless friends and acrobatic animals hanging from tires and riding through tunnels. The overgrown obstacle course is scary enough for Jerry, but when a fire traps his daredevil sister in the towering contraption, only Jerry can save her. Can he summon the courage to rise to the occasion, or will the jungle gym jitters paralyze him?
About the Author
Chuck Richards is an artist who has been teaching college-level drawing to first year art and design majors for the past twenty years.
One day he was riding his bike past an elementary school playground with a fantastic, large wooden play structure and thought that it would be a useful tool for teaching his students linear perspective. At the same time, his children were bringing home amazing picture books. The two events combined to spark the idea for Jungle Gym Jitters, which took five years to create. Jungle Gym Jitters makes his debut as a picture-book artist.