A GIANT MESS

A child doesn’t want to clean up after playtime, only to discover a mess that’s much bigger.

Molly, a White child cued as a girl with pigtails and a bright orange dress, is having fun playing with an abundance of toys. When Mom tells her to clean up the “giant mess,” Molly starts to throw a tantrum—only to be interrupted by a literal giant. Bright green and bushy-eyebrowed, giant toddler Jack (cued as a boy with oversized sweater and red pants) runs through Molly’s neighborhood, using houses, infrastructure, animals, and people as playthings. When Jack’s parents insist he clean up his “toys,” Jack begins to throw a tantrum, and Molly decides to pass down the lesson she’s been taught: You should clean up the mess you make. Unfortunately, Jack leaves the job unfinished, and Molly finds her room even messier than before. The upside-down second story of the house puts a whole new spin on Mom’s request that Molly “pick up your room.” Simple sentences and short sight words are apt for a new reader. Full of big facial expressions, sweeping movement, and destructive chaos, the dynamic illustrations carry the book. While some may find the double-entendre concept and resulting chaos humorous, the comedy is flattened by giant disparities of gender and power, as a girl and her mother are left to clean up after a (giant) boy who treats them like objects.

Something of a mess indeed.