Slam!: A Tale of Consequences

by Adam Stower

“Don’t slam the door!” pleads a parent as a boy and his dog head out to run an errand, but the distracted boy doesn't hear. What follows is a fantastical calamity of epic and silly proportions, all thanks to a slammed door that dislodges a red ball. As the ball bounces through the neighborhood, it unleashes an escalating series of slapstick events that involve animals and people thrown off course and into the air, traffic jams and near-collisions, a fire-breathing dragon, tiny alien creatures — and a boy completely oblivious to the chaos he has caused.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Humor, Adventure, Dragons, Dogs, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2005

About the author

Adam completed a BA in Illustration at Norwich and an MA in Narrative Illustration at Brighton where he now lives and works. Adam is now represented by Arena agency.

Adam has a passion for drawing and a great love of traditional illustration. He specialises in fiction for children, editorial, character development and product design.

from http://www.worldofadam.com/main.htm

Reviews

[Cara · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pictures were fun, but the story is a little hard to follow.

[Esther Adler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I am a speech therapist and this book is great for therapy. It elicits awesome conversations and sequencing. There are so many great details and we dont have to get stuck reading the words.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slam!: A Tale of Consequences is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Adam Stower, which tells a story that a tiny innocuous event like slamming a door could cause major chaos – a simplistic and illustrated book about the Chaos Theory.

The text is practically non-existent. With just three speech bubbles, the whole book was told in its illustration. Fortunately, the illustrations are wonderfully depicted and tell the story rather hilarious. It shows how everything is connected with each other and disturbing the balance just a tad could result in disastrous effects.

The premise of the book is rather straightforward. A boy, who is running an errand with his dog, could not hear the warning from his parents not to slam the door, because he is wearing earphones. That simple act of slamming the door, unleashes his red ball stuck on his roof, which causes mayhem throughout the town, but goes unnoticed by the boy walking his dog.

All in all, Slam!: A Tale of Consequences is a wonderfully illustrated children's book that shows wacky, hilarious, and unlikely consequences to inconsequential things. Although, it does simplify chaos theory rather well – a butterfly flapping its wings in New Mexico or a red ball being unstuck from a roof could produce disastrous and chaotic effects.

[Christina Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great demonstration of onomatopoeia! This book simply starts with a boy slamming a door behind him and a chain of wacky events is set off without him realizing it. The story is mostly a picture walk of everything that happens after he slams the door, but along with the detailed illustrations are loads of words that make sounds using consonant blends and digraphs. It is really fun to sort through all the sounds and try to predict what will happen next.

[Saylah Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This picture book is appropriate for children ages 12+. I found this book interesting because the story was not told through narration or dialogue. The story is conveyed using very detailed illustrations and sound words. This different way of storytelling will help young readers to use their inference skills because they have to interpret the message of the story using visual cues.

[Hallie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was alright, some kids would probably find it funny and it would be a cool read aloud book because there is a lot of onomatopoeias. The illustrations were also very detailed and interesting, but they kind of overwhelmed me I didn't know where to look on some of the pages because there was a lot going on.

[Mandy Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book was very creative and interesting. I think this would be a great book for Pre-K and Kindergarten because not only does it teach kids about consequences but it also doesn't contain very many words. The story is mostly told through pictures of an evolving story where one action causes another action.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

If only the boy would have listened when he was told not to slam the door, then a chain of events would not have happened the way they did. Not many words in this book, just great illustrations that tell the story.

[Axl Mendoza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slam!: A Tale of Consequences by Adam Stower is a funny and exciting story that shows how one small mistake can lead to a big chain of events. The wordless book uses humor and expressive illustrations to show cause and effect in a playful way.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to read - my 5 year old enjoyed seeing what had changed from page to page.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book to read out loud with great illustrations.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s amazing the chaos the slamming of one door can create.

[Hailey Corman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the illustrations. The book talks about how it’s important to be aware of your surroundings, and how little things we do can have big consequences.

[Libby Burak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite, however a good book to read to kids about playing attention to your surrondings. If you are too focused or busy lots of things around you can happen and you wont notice

[Natalie Browning · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is adorable and I love its use of onomatopoeia. Also its large use of figurative language makes the reader rely heavily on illustrations. This is just cute and funny.

[Abby Steele · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was interesting. Although it had very few words, the illustrations were really cool.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The negative reviews of this book puzzled me until I read through a few of them. Most of the negative comments revolve around the age level for which this book is intended. As other reviewers point out, although a picture book this is not really a book intended for young readers and it is not ideal as a book to read for a group. Read in the right context, this is an awesome book!

This mostly wordless book relies on the illustrations far more than any text. I re-read this book three times and found new details each time. A boy heads to the store blissfully unaware, with headphones on and reading a comic book, of the events initiated by him slamming the door as he leaves. The reader enjoys the visual domino effect with each new page. The extra fun is that this book ends as it begins, with the boy slamming another door and the reader is left to figure out on their own what will happen next. I could see this being an awesome writing/illustrating prompt for teachers to give to students!

The illustrations in this book are amazing! The reader has to slowly take in all the details on each two-page spread in order to fully get the humor of this book. The few onomatopoeia words on each page only add to the fun. As previously mentioned I had to re-read this book several times to get the full humor of everything happening on each page.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

My personal reaction of this book was the illustrations were the focal point. For example, minimal dialogue, one word at a time in caps to show significance. Go back and read three times you will find more details every time.

The purpose of this book would be for independent reading for enrichment purposes. This would be a good read for K-1. It would be great in the classroom to show the consequences of ones actions and how it effects different people. The illustrations do a good job of corresponding how your action effect you and your environment.We rely on the illustrations of this book to create the theme. This book does a good job illustrating onomatopoeia so you could make a lesson based of that and start with this book. The audience can also learn how one consequence can lead to more and more.

[Kalynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book thinking it would be a good classroom read, but the consequences that happen here in this wordless book are unrealistic, so the title is both good and also misleading. Granted I could have opened it up and quickly seen that, but for some reason I don't often do that...I rather wait to open my picture book surprise/gift when I get home. For a wordless book, it is very creative and colorful (and also timely, since the main character has traits many young students have...especially with those headphones on). It also does a good job with onomatopoeia, so it would be a good add to that type of lesson, as well as a good transitional to writing your own stories.

[Benjamin Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A boy's walk to the store is depicted with chaos surrounding him (which he is oblivious to) that all started when he slammed the front door. Some of the events that take place are pretty ridiculous, though it's kind of fun to see the dragon and the aliens show up. Also, the use of onomatopoeia and a few limited lines of dialogue puts it in this weird space where it isn't actually a wordless picture book (which might have worked better), but there's no text narration so it's impossible to read as well (at least out loud).
I can't say it was bad, but it will go back to the library and I'll probably never think about it again.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

When a boy ignores his parent's admonition not to slam the door, a red ball falls from the roof, and sets off a series of accidents. Things go from bad to worse, and there are accidents that occur as the result of his carelessness. Yet, through it all, the boy remains blissfully aware of what has happened. All he knows at the end of the day is that his once-lost red ball has suddenly reappeared. A simpler and easier-to-follow version of the same sort of story detailing a series of consequences from one simple action can be found in Because I Stubbed My Toe.

[Maggie Mattmiller · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like this one. It's a cute idea, don't get me wrong... And the pictures have a lot going on- I think kids might find them silly and giggle. Definitely not trying to insult the author/illustrator with my rating... I just personally don't like it. I think the pictures have too much going on for my students, and while they will like some silly parts, it's too overwhelming to get the idea of natural consequences. This book could have been a great example of why we don't do certain things, but instead it's too silly, too much for me. (I'm sure some kids will love it though.)

[Erin Buhr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable tale about the consequences of slamming a door. "Don't slam the door!" is a common reminder to kids everywhere and this book takes the potential consequences to comical proportions. A little boy heads outside for a walk with his dog to the candy store. Unfortunately, he forgets to not slam the door and sets off a chain event of outlandish consequences. This mostly wordless book relies on dramatic illustrations to carry the hilarious story from door to door. A laugh out loud adventure and wonderful example of cause and effect.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A boy slams his front door when he goes out for a walk. He has headphones on and is reading the comics so he doesn't see all of the cumulative chaos that he has left in his wake. There's a lot to see in the pictures so readers will end up going back again and again to see everything that's going on. It'll be a great book to use in a classroom to get kids thinking about cause and effect, creative writing, storytelling, etc.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

We checked this one out from the library. It's on of the few books my kids have begged me to buy. It IS nearly wordless, but that leaves lots of room for each to narrate their own version of it. I agree that it's wonderful for teaching sequencing, paying attention to detail, and encouraging imagination. It has just enough repetition to hold the children's interest!
I think the reviews are from people who can't appreciate a book without words. :/

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nearly wordless picture book that features an ever increasingly chaotic story that is ignited by a boy slamming the door shut behind him.

Artwork is detailed which gives young readers plenty to discover upon multiple rereads. I like the premise, though this story was a little hard to follow. PreK-2.

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary:
Don’t slam the door!” pleads a parent as a boy and his dog head out to run an errand, but the distracted boy doesn't hear. What follows is a fantastical calamity of epic and very much silly proportions,

It would be really difficult to use this book for story time with a group. Even a small group. There is only dialogue on one page. Its just not what I thought it was going to be.

[Christine Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: A heedless little boy and his dog slam the door as they run out to complete an errand, unknowingly dislodging a red ball that bounces through the neighborhood and triggers an escalating series of mishaps.
Subject:
Accidents -- Juvenile fiction

Note: This book would be best shared one on one.

[Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent picture book to read to a little one whilst they're on your lap. They will point out all the little objects and people and you'll find out that one thread followed will become a different thread on the second reading. Things you missed the first time will stand out in the follow up readings. Beautiful illustrations!

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be very engaging. Lots of little details you can follow through the pages provide great opportunities to engage kids in conversations about what's going on, rather than just reading at them.