My Messy Room

by Mary Packard

A stubborn young girl describes how she likes to keep her room very messy

Genres: Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

i went to greg's pretty much to read this book. this review will contain spoilers, make no mistake. but really - this kid is some kind of sociopath. her whole thing is what SHE likes: "i like shoes in my drawers, i like socks on my lamp (which is a wicked fire hazard, but regardless) i like paint on my desk. i like corpses in my fridge" not really, but you can see the escalation; it's only a matter of time. and then the ending is "i like a messy room. but mommy does not". but this little brat does not give a shit - she's just dancing all around her room in some kind of egomaniacal bliss because she's living in this wonderland of her own making where there are no consequences for her slovenly actions. she's... she's... well, she's my new hero.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I'm trying to clean up my own messy room, and I come across this book. Why do I have this book? I don't know. I don't remember ever buying it, actually I'm pretty certain I never bought it. It was published in 1993, making me 19 when it first came out, an age at which I could read, so my parents never bought this for me. I don't know where it came from, but I decided to sit down and read it. I was hoping for inspiration. Maybe a good message about cleaning my room, making it a better place, or something. But no. The plot of this story is about a troublesome little girl who likes to keep her room a pigsty, not unlike my own. She likes it and does nothing about it, except that it makes her mommy mad, but the story ends there, not with the girl rectifying mommy's anger, but gleefully dancing around her sloppy room. Oh shit, I just realized I gave away the whole plot of the book. Oh well. Probably cursing in a review for a book geared towards 4 year olds isn't too good either but fuck it.

I feel a little cheated. I feel bewildered where this book came from. I actually wonder where the whole pile of children's books came from that were underneath another pile of books I haven't read yet. I also wonder when I got an ARC of a zombie book coming out in March, and why I have multiple copies of certain books that I don't really ever remember buying one copy of. So hooray for my own messy room and it's hidden literary surprises and boo to this book which I looked to in my time of need and guidance and instead seems to be telling me to keep my room a wreck, and instead do some rhyming exercises to make myself a better reader, but seriously this book isn't that tough and I already knew all the words so it didn't help me there at all.

[Dara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is cool

[Sara Codair · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book I remember reading independently. As a child, I had it memorized, and read it over and over and over again.

And I still like my room messy.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my books when I was a kid.

[Hannah Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Messy Room by Mary Packard is a great book for children just beginning to read. The sentence structures are simple and short. The illustrations are detailed and paint a picture as to what is exactly going on in this messy room. The little girl tells us the different things that she likes; for example, she likes paint on her table and socks on her chair. Although the little girl does not end up cleaning her room in the story, you can infer that once her mommy walks in and is shocked and appalled at the sight of her daughter’s room that she eventually had to clean it even though the little girl liked it being messy. Overall this is a cute and easy read book that has a few educational activities in the back that go along with the story as well as flashcards which reinforce vocabulary and reading comprehension. I would recommend this book for either boys or girls anywhere from zero to four year olds.

[Desiree Streib · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are no words for this book. My sister read it to my two year old nephew, and at the end he said, "That's it?" There was zero plot. The little girl in the story likes her room messy and thinks it's funny that he mom doesn't. That's it. That's the whole story. There is no moral or theme whatsoever that would be beneficial to any child. My sister and I spent a good hour laughing about the ridiculousness of this book.

[Brian Barnett · Rating 2 out of 5]

While reading this I could tell my son's wheels were turning in his head. The book merely provided justification for his messy habits. The main character never had to clean her room. Other than teaching children sight-words, I'm not sure of its value. It certainly doesn't contain the best message.

[Eva Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, this one's about me all right. But I'm not as messy as this girl is because I don't spill paint. And let's face it, she could be a LOT worse. I mean, what if she had FOOD in there? Then she'd be a REAL slob.
I read almost all of this by myself so it's an EXTRA good one!

[Sherry Thornberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The girl in this book loves her messy room but her mother does not, just like most kids. This book has a lot of rhyming words and read like a poem. It also conveys the message that its ok to be you. 32 pages.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this out loud to my kid and regretted it. Thought it would support my clean bedroom mom propaganda. It did not. Now my kid thinks her messy room is hilarious. Thanks, Obama. Really though, this one's not going back into the rotation.

[Kristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

while this might be a good book for beginner readers, I really didn't like reading this with my daughter. I thought that maybe the book might encourage her to clean her room. while it didn't, we were able to talk about what we wouldn't do in our rooms and why.

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

not a big fan...girl basically trashes her room and it doesn't end with her cleaning it up. it ends with mommy not liking it. what mommy would?

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an easy reader for second grade. There are not very many words per page, which would be good for some students.

[Nikki]

I thought this book was funny. The kids room is messy the whole time and I would never be able to live like that. So it was funny to read how this little girl loved her room messy.

[Lorena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Isabella absolutely loved this book, we were cracking up the whole time we were reading it ... she keeps her room super clean all the time, so this came up as a big joke to her. =)

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talks about a girl who has a messy room and likes it. The story was alright, she liked different things in weird places, but I liked that it had activities at the end of the book.

[Miri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful books that contain flash cards to help build reading skills.

[Cws]

BR-Pac

[Erika Little]

4 copies