Publishers Weekly Review
| Familiar characters star in all new adventures this season and a pair of companion volumes encourage wordplay. In William Joyce's Big Time Olie, the robot boy hero makes use of the "shrink-and-grow-a-lator" when his parents exclude him from activities because of his size. Olie gets unexpected results when he hits the wrong buttons on the machine. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved |
School Library Journal Review
| PreS-Gr 2-Rolie Polie Olie is too small to go to Mount Big Ball and too big to jump on his bed eating ice cream. When he decides to use the "shrink-and-grow-a-lator," he becomes so small that his sister thinks he's a doll; next, he becomes so big that one jump puts him in outer space, and he winds up bruised, burned, and lonely. The family dog, with the help of mom and dad, helps Rolie get back to just the right size, and he decides that "I won't be in such a hurry to grow all Rolie up." The brightly colored characters, fashioned out of round balls, metal springs, and simple shapes, and the slightly futuristic, but somehow old-fashioned cartoon quality of the illustrations meet for a wonderfully playful effect. The spare, rhythmic text perfectly captures the conflicting desires of preschoolers to grow up and venture out, yet to be safe and close to home and family.-Shelley B. Sutherland, Niles Public Library District, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
Booklist Review
| PreS-Gr. 1. The metallic butterball Rolie Polie Olie grapples with growing up in this sweet, satisfying addition to the series. Too small to accompany his parents to Mount Big Ball («big-time unfair»), and too big to jump on the bed while eating ice cream, Olie cries, «I'm not the right size for anything!» This is clearly a job for the shrink-and-grow-a-lator. But when Olie presses the wrong button, he shrinks so small his little sister thinks he is a doll. Urgently pressing the bigger button, he gets so big he jumps up to outer space, bonks his head on the moon, and lands KABOOM! on a mountaintop. Is there no middle ground in this business of growing up? Olie sings a forlorn song. But his family serendipitously saves the day, and that night «he went to sleep in his bed that was just big enough . . . for now.» Karin Snelson. |
Horn Book Review
| Olie is fed up with being told that he's either too big or too little, so logically, he turns to the shrink-and-grow-a-lator. At first he loves his gigantic-ness, but predictably, the thrill doesn't last. As always, Joyce's visuals are fresh, and even kids unfamiliar with Olie's TV show will enjoy the 3-D-looking pictures. Unfortunately, the text's grass-is-always-greener scenario is stale, and the story goes on too long. From HORN BOOK Spring 2003, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
Kirkus Review
| Angry that he's not growing up fast enough, little Olie has a "big and really bad idea." But the button he pushes on the household "shrink-and-grow-a-lator" turns out to be the wrong one, and suddenly he's the size of one of his kid sister Zowie's toys. So he tries again, and this time swells up so huge that he bonks his head on the moon and burns his bottom on the sun. Olie may sound a bit precious-"I'm a little bit bigger / not a little bit smaller. / I'm a little bit taller- / I'm growing Rolie up!"-but his fourth outing, set in a digitally created alien world of rubber spheres and gleaming plastic, all in saturated hues, features Joyce's (Sleepy Time Olie, 2001, etc.) trademark blend of the offbeat and the familiar. In the end, a chastened Olie returns to normal, with parental help, and settles down in a bed that's "just big enough . . . for now." Like Olie's previous appearances, in print and on TV, the episode is neatly cut and dried, but Olie's frustrated reaction to being told that he's too small for this, but too big to do that any more, will find an understanding corps of young readers. (Picture book. 5-7) |
