Totally Tardy Marty

July 15, 2015
A young boy who's always late for school learns to be on time and finds a friend along the way. Never Late Kate is the kind of monitor kids like Marty despise. Just when Marty thinks he might manage to sneak into school undetected (or unrecognized in a cool disguise), there's Kate handing him a tardy slip. But being on time has its own consequences: Marty would have to curb his imagination and quit wondering at all the amazing things in the world-a turtle, the giant-squid attack from his full laundry basket, a line of ants. Or can he do both? It sure seems that way when Kate comes to Marty's rescue and gets a tardy slip of her own-a bird's song, cloud shapes, and comic books are just too tempting. Can they work together to keep their names off new monitor Never Late Nate's tardy slips? Perl's tale nicely shows the vulnerable side of someone seen as perfect, but the story's resolution-African-American Kate pulls Caucasian Marty in a wagon while he continues to explore, invent, and imagine-is highly problematic. Furthermore, Krosoczka's Kate is a bit too smug about her monitoring duties to make her conversion to friend truly believable, and Marty's distractibility is uncomplicatedly portrayed as adorable. A final page gives the pair's list of ways to be on time.This one can be permanently late. (Picture book. 4-7)

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October 1, 2015

PreS-Gr 2-Marty is always so busy looking at things, inventing Toast-on-a-Rope, and climbing trees on the way to school that he is almost always tardy and caught by "Never-Late Kate, who [thinks] she [is] sooo great." But one morning, Marty gets caught up a tree after his dog knocks the ladder down, and Kate comes to his rescue. Not only that, but she is so busy looking at cloud shapes and birds with Marty that she forgets the time and they both get caught by "Never-Late Nate." However, they decide it was worth it because each has discovered a new friend. Soon Marty becomes "Totally Early Marty" and Kate helps keep him on track. In fact, the friends even make up a list of "Five Points for Perpetual Punctuality." This is a lighthearted story with hilarious cartoon illustrations depicting the delaying antics of Marty, done with ink, watercolor, and acrylics digitally collaged. VERDICT A solid winner for both storytime and lap reading.-Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2016
On Monday and subsequent days, Marty is "totally tardy" after he gets distracted by inventive ideas and daydreams, such as making toast on a rope and battling a giant squid. "Never-Late Kate" smugly delivers his tardy notice each day--until she joins the fun, sparking a friendship. Filled with playfully illustrated vignettes and read-along repetition, the narrative has surefire appeal for storytime.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)