School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

K-Gr 3-A loud scream from the upstairs bathroom interrupts Oliver's family's breakfast, and an investigation reveals that the boy is suffering from a bad case of "bedhead." "There was hair going this way. Hair going that way. Hair going up. Down. Around and around." His parents and sister try wetting it and spraying it, but nothing works, and Oliver goes off to school wearing his trusty blue baseball cap-a masterful plan, except that it's class picture day. Palatini's lengthy, hilarious text, which appears in jagged frames that suggest the boy's mounting anxiety, is filled with her signature alliteration and familiar expressions like "Been there. Done that," "a done deal," and "Zero. Zilch. Nada." It will take little persuasion to have children chime in on the "B-B-B-BOING!"s every time Oliver's hair does its thing. The zany cartoon-style illustrations, executed in colored pencil, acrylic, dye, and ink, appear on large double-page spreads with small white borders. Many of them depict Oliver's oversized head, hair flying in all directions, and his family trying to effect a cure. From the shocked expression on Oliver's face on the cover and the bathroom-tile-covered endpapers to the scene of the boy's terrible discovery and the wacky remedies that follow, this is a delightful combination of text and pictures that will have readers coming back for more.-Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community College, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Bell hooks may be Happy to Be Nappy (1999), but young Oliver's glimpse of his morning hair—"going up. Down. Around and around. And there was one teeny tiny clump of hair way at the back of his head that looked just like a cat's coughedup fur ball"—prompts a shattering scream of dismay. Nothing he or his parents try—not water, not hair spray, not even mousse—has more than a temporary effect, and at last all the "follicly challenged" lad can do is jam a cap on his head before going off to school. Unfortunately, it's Class Picture day . . . Oliver's panicstricken face, topped with wildly swirling strawberry blond locks, fills Davis's (Mary Louise Loses Her Manners, 1999, etc.) hyperkinetic cartoon scenes, and Palatino (Ding Dong Ding Dong, 1999, etc.) adds plenty of sound effects to this uproarious tale of a truly epic bad hair day. (Picture book. 79) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A natural read-aloud, this rambunctious story chronicles the uproar that occurs when Oliver finds himself the victim of a cataclysmically bad hair day. The caricatured illustrations of Oliver's frantic family and horrified classmates (it's school picture day, of course) have a sickly yellow-green cast, which seems fitting given that part of the untamable coif is described as resembling a ""cat's coughed-up fur ball."" (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.