What's With This Room?

by Tom Lichtenheld

A discussion between a boy and his parents about a bedroom, that is so dirty he would "have to clean up just to call it a mess," ends with a blast.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Humor, Fiction, Monsters, Halloween, Storytime

36 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Children's book author/illustrator writes for kids who love to laugh and grown-ups who love to laugh along with them. When not making up stories and drawing silly pictures, he likes to get other people's kids all riled-up then send them home to their parents.

Reviews

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite of Lichtenheld's works, but there are a lot of kids--especially messy boys!--who will love this. I like his excuses for the various messes in his room. And while the room is definitely a mess, from the bird's-eye view I couldn't help thinking, "I've seen worse." (It just wasn't as smelly!) The rhyming keeps the story going, though there were a couple of parts that I got a bit tripped up. I think this would work best for a school-age storytime as they would get the humor more (cleaning a room as well as school work is something they can relate to more). Still a fun lap-read and read-alone, too.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A typical parent-child dilemma...What's With This Room? is told from two opposing viewpoints. Of course the child thinks his room is just fine, with underwear hanging off the fan, mold festering in the corner, and cockroach siblings fighting with one another. As he passes off a huge pile as an experiment waiting to explode...it does just that: EXPLODE! Now his room is clean. Maybe that is what he was waiting for all along.

Used for "What a Mess!" Storytime-October, 2010.

[Charlie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Today on: Books I Had to Read as a Kids’ Librarian. This is literally just a handful of pages about two parents guilt tripping their child into cleaning his room. They also say “What is wrong with you?” and tell him there is a dead monster under his bed.

Great stuff. So glad this is still circulating.

[Adams' Country Retreat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laugh out loud book with beautiful illustrations.

[Allison Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have two boys and they share a messy room. They absolutely loved this book and couldn't stop laughing while I read it aloud. The story is cute with it's rhymes and the pictures are so fun.

[Rommel Sison · Rating 4 out of 5]

6-year-old daughter: 5 stars

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute! Silly and funny.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very humorous book about a boy's messy room. The rhyming narrative is fun to read aloud and the colorful illustrations are terrific.

The details are quite amusing, especially the nod to René Magritte's famous artwork, The Treachery of Images, which declares, "Ceci n'est pas une pipe." I also enjoyed checking out the endpages, with the book on Chaos Theory next to the book on the Basics of Putrification, along with a book titled Clutterology. I liked seeing the famous poster of Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue, next to the boy's bed on the back cover and the Title page, but I was disappointed to see that it was missing on page fourteen.

Overall, I thought this was a very funny and entertaining book and when I saw it at the library book sale and I couldn't resist buying it. Our girls have very different ideas about what constitutes a 'clean' room, so I thought it was a terrific book for them to read. We all really enjoyed reading this book.

interesting quotes:

"The clothes hanger was invented in 1903 by Albert J. Parkhouse, who would probably not mind at all if you used one once in a while." (endpages)

"The crud and the critters, they all play a part, and if it's not science, I just call it art." (p. 17)

[Rosa Cline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a little far out there in my opinion... about parents going into a bedroom that was beyond hideous; telling the boy about how nasty it was including dirty underwear on the celing fan and mold and mildew everywhere etc. REALLY? Do you really want to encourage your child to have their room like this? Then after the parents talk the boy comes back and tells his parents it's all about education, like math and science experiments and in a few years would be an excavation dig for his parents to find things he's put in there etc. But at the end he adds vinegar to apparently a huge volcano he made in his room and with a large BOOM he and his parents and things end up in a tree outside. It does teach to clean up your room, BUT it's WAY extreme in my book.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

In paperback, with a different title, What Mess? this book was hysterical and kids loved it. The little boy is explaining to his parents that far from just having a messy room he is actually experimenting in it. The five layers of nasty laundry is an archaeological dig in creating, and the underwear on the ceiling fan is an investigation into the centrifugal force of odors. The green food mold in the corner is potential Halloween candy. But what happens when the volcano in the middle of the room goes boom? We learn that a clean room makes all the difference. The kids LOVED this one, we giggled all the way through and added a lot of Ewwwws for extra affect.

[Rebecca Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome! Hilarious! Read this yesterday to a group of 2nd graders, and they loved it so much, it took a half hour to get through it. Every single page deserves careful examination, the art work is so great. The kids wanted to look at every detail. So many things made us laugh. Underwear hanging from the ceiling fan, the lunch turning into candy-goo in the corner, the mite sister crying "He's bugging me!" Continuous fun, every single page. Also, great verse, fun to read because of the rhyming, and super learning tool with sophisticated vocabulary and sentence structure. Two enthusiastic thumbs up! Thanks, Tom Lichtenheld, for another masterpiece.

[Ashley Dement · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the rhyming sequence that was carried on throughout What’s with this Room. (I keep finding myself starting to rhyme my review.) The illustrations were humorous and full of imagination. I enjoyed the creativity that was put into this book. The concept of a messy room is something children will find funny and most likely be able to relate to themselves because I know I can. The story teaches that instead of making up excuses it is best to just own up to, in this case a messy room, and take care of the problem.

[KayCee K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite story to read to my younger brother. I read it fast, and light hearted. The kid in this story has a reason for everything, I enjoy everything he comes up with, one of my favorite lines goes something like, if it's not science it's art. The clearer lines. The drawings in the book helps bring the words to life.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is something you can read if your having trouble with students not putting things away or cleaning up after themselves at school. Although this book is about a boy having a messy room at home, you can definitely extend it to relate to your students at school.

[Kimberly Maughon · Rating 5 out of 5]

a topic all children can relate to. patents telling them to clean their room. but I love all the excuses he makes and his side of the story. I loved the vocabulary used words we can teach and relate to know words

[Nakitah]

A student is able to live in a room that hsi parents deem uninhabitable, but he proves to them that a little creativity can help any situation. This can be paired with a lesson about recycling and how we can use different materials to form new things.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was funny. If you are having trouble getting you kids to keep their rooms clean, this might do the trick. The excuses the kids comes up with as to why is room is such a mess is hilarious. I like the pictures and I also like things all in rhyme!

[Lorraine Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Great illustrations. Shows how to turn text around within the story from one point of view to another. Rhyming. Great read aloud. Kids can relate to the story because having a messy room is a common thing.

[Kathy Ellen Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book!
I love the rhyme and the illustrations.
And the justification of the main character about why his room isn't clean!

It's a fresh spin on the whole
"Clean your room" thing.

And the ending is funny.
A fun read!

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for older kids and will gross them out!

[Zonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kid's will recognize this room and maybe in the end clean there room, too.

[Jenny Forgay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome illustrations and great rhyming make this a fun book to read.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious. Tom Lichtenheld, you rock. :)

[Kamyshia]

A book between a boy and his parents . Silly book that can be used when dealing with keeping your room clean .

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute book about messy rooms.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Take a tour of the dirtiest room ever! Rhyming text describes the gross layers of debris while ink, watercolor, colored pencils, and pastels bring the mess to fully realized life! PreK-2.

[Kirsti Call · Rating 4 out of 5]

This rhyming picture book is clever and funny. Every child would enjoy this book.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cute, inventive book! As a parent of young kids (and a former messy kid too), I identified with so many parts of the book.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great rhyming book, fun story. A little bit of stinky humor, but a fun premise for a story.

[Jody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hysterical. Sends the boys into stitches!