It’s Not Fair! (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: It’s Not Fair! Deborah Stevenson Rosenthal, Amy Krouse It’s Not Fair! illus. by Tom Lichtenheld. HarperCollins, 2008 [38p] Library ed. ISBN 978-0-06-115258-0 $17.89 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-115257-3 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R 4–7 yrs Inequity is one of the great scourges of childhood, and this rhyming lament allows a multicultural cast of kids to give voice to their pain when life hands out unequal portions. Speakers challenge injustices with the good old-fashioned “why?” method (“Why does she get brand-new shoes?/ Why does my team always lose?”), each sequence rounding up with a resounding cry of “It’s not fair.” The book expands to explore the universality of this kind of resentment, depicting babies in a hospital nursery wailing about injustice, inanimate objects piqued about the better fortune of others, and animals and planets sad about the privileges they aren’t lucky enough to enjoy. Though the end (complaining about the fact that books must conclude) is a little forced, the complaints are recognizable and understandable, and the implicit, humorously conveyed message that everybody envies something is a useful approach to an ultimately unsolvable problem in an unfair world. Lichtenheld’s art emphasizes simplicity and sturdiness in his stumpy, big-headed figures with thick, crayony lines, [End Page 441] and the illustrations do yeoman work in conveying the heartbreak of trials such as “They said they would but didn’t wait” (one girl running to catch up with the trio that’s started walking away without her), “Why don’t you yell at her?” (aggrieved kid with a bat addressing angry mom in front of house with broken window, while girl with a mitt tries to pretend she’s not there), and other cris de coeur. Endpapers provide additional entertainment with a satiric legal document seeking redress for an unfairly divided cookie. This will be a natural in storytime, with kids chiming in gleefully on the refrain, and it will also serve as a usefully comic way to defuse the situation when hurt feelings about unfairness begin to simmer. Copyright © 2008 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois