Buz

ISBN 0060235667 - As an adult, I have a hard time giving this book more than a star or two. Fortunately, it's not written for adults, which earns it a few extra. Buz, a bug whose entire vocabulary is "Buzzz" (surprised?), is swallowed by a boy. The boy's doctor confirms that the boy does, indeed, "have a bug" and gives him two pills. The pills set out to remove Buz from the boy, but he escapes while the boy is in the tub... only to visit his own doctor and find out he has a germ. Inside the cover flap, the pills are referred to as "Keystone Cop Pills", so the resemblance to those silent movie stars isn't even remotely incidental - unfortunately, most kids today won't have a clue who the Keystone Cops were. The upside of that might be the chance to sit down and show them! The text is very simple and nothing special but the illustrations are phenomenal. Young kids will enjoy the story, especially when they're stuck home, sick in bed!

You know what's wrong with the youth of America today? No real appreciation for Keystone Cop references (bet you didn't see THAT one coming). In the old days a child could take one look at a round headed bumbling policeman and immediately understand why that image was so freakin' hilarious. Today, no such luck. Fortunately there are books out there like, "Buz" by Richard Egielski to alleviate such cares and woes. A raucous romp that follows a single bug and his misadventures inside an average boy, it's a fun little story with a whole lotta pep. It's not the greatest source of factual information regarding the human body, but it's still worth a look-see and a read-aloud. Buz is not having a good day. He's just been devoured along with some cornflakes by a boy and has found himself trapped in the boy's body. After a quick visit to the doctor, the kid learns that he does indeed have a bug. Enter in two pills, charged with removing Buz from the body. That's where the Keystone Cop references enter in. Buz manages to elude his tormentors until finally escaping while the boy takes a bath. This leaves Buz with a cold of his very own and a fellow insect doctor tells him he has a germ. The last image in the book is of that very germ staring out of one of Buz's eyes with a look of trapped panic. The end! Author/illustrator Richard Egielski is probably best known in chatty children's circles for his Caldecott winning book, "Hey, Al", which he illustrated for. "Buz" marks his foray into the wild uncouth world of artists who are also authors. As it is, the story is all well and good. There's no getting around the point, of course, that kids reading this book might acquire some fairly screwy ideas of how the body fits together. Buz spends a portion of the book standing on the other side of the boy's eye, watching the world through the kid's iris. Also, he finds it moderately simple to swim out of the child's ear. And there is of course the fact that the doctor says the boy has a bug when, in fact, he means that literally. Telling a kid, after reading "Buz", that they have a bug of some sort may give them odd ideas of what that actually means. FYI. These are fairly petty concerns, of course. I mean, the book's really quite good. While I found Egielski's illustrations verging on the disturbing in "Hey, Al", here I liked `em just fine. Whether you're watching flying cornchips whizzing past Buz's head in the boy's mouth or enjoying a tug of war between the two pills when they finally grab ahold of Buz, everything in this book is clear and beautifully rendered. There's a cleanliness to the lines here that's pleasant to look at and easy to understand if you're a child. Egielski also has a good sense of narrative flow, making his first attempt at writing a picture book well done. I know you probably have your own bug-gets-trapped-in-a-child's-body picture book favorites of your own, but I think you should at least give "Buz" a try. It's

I use this book to help teach Pre-K & Kindergarten students medicine safety. They are thrilled with the setting (inside a boy's mouth, eye and ear). They stare at the illustrations with wonderment and delight. Just a fun, fun book.

I'm a Children's Librarian and in my experience "Buz" is the only book that I have actually had the kids ask for by name. Usually when I have storytime, the kids completely forget what I've read by the following week, but not so with Buz. Egielski's illustrations are delightful and the text is so much fun to read! And to top off all this it's education to boot! I highly recommend BUZ!