The Dirty Little Boy by Margaret Wise Brown

The brand-new pictures are big and bright and à la mode, combining an illustrative style influenced by 30's cartoons with some very modern techniques. “In 1939 ‘The Dirty Little Boy,' at that time entitled ‘How the Animals Bathe,' appeared in a children's magazine. A selection that is bound to make a splash at storyhour.”

The stylized characters contribute to the retro look, and the playful use of line and scale give them a lager-than-life quality. Salerno's vibrant mixed-media art is great fun. At first mom scolds, then scoops him up into the soapy washtub and lovingly shows him how a little boy is supposed to get clean. He eventually gives up and returns home much dirtier than when he started out. Realizing he is really filthy now, he eyes a cat licking itself clean and copies it, but all the dirt from his hand is now on his face. She is busy washing some clothes by hand and tells him to, ‘Run along, and see how the animals take their baths and that way you'll learn how to get clean.' After mimicking a bird diving into a puddle and then rolling in sand, he follows some pigs into a mud pool. “This story was first published in Jack and Jill in 1939 under the title ‘How the Animals Took a Bath.' After getting jam, chocolate, and mud all over himself, a little boy asks his ‘big round mother' to give him a bath.

A good storytime selection.' - School Library Journal, October 2000

The Dirty Little Boy by Margaret Wise Brown