Mr. Nogginbody snags his sock on the floor while sliding across it. Looking at the nail sticking up slightly from the floor, Mr. Nogginbody wonders
How in the world do I fix this thing?
At the Hardware Store he is told what he saw was a nail and that to fix it he needs a hammer. Mr. Nogginbody returns home with his hammer. Through a little trial and error he figures out how to use the hammer to tap the nail down until it’s flush with the floor’s surface and joyfully exclaims:
I fixed it!
The problems begin when Mr. Nogginbody tries to apply the hammer as a solution to every problem he feels needs ‘fixing,’ or any object he sees that resembles a nail. His big revelation comes when he attempts to hit a fly with the hammer. The fly flies away and Mr. Nogginbody realizes it’s not a nail. This leads to his realization:
Whoa…Maybe I can’t fix everything with a hammer. Because not everything is a nail.
The illustrations are two-dimensional with a cartoon-like feel similar to Shannon’s David books–although the colors are more muted than I’m used to seeing in David Shannon’s work.
I loved the message and the idea of Mr. Nogginbody Gets a Hammer more than I actually liked the book, itself. I’m not sure if the message of the book is clear enough to its intended (young) readers. Mr. Nogginbody is definitely more of a read-aloud choice for home or classroom. It would work wonderfully when you want to introduce concepts of cause and effect, or the idea of specific tools for specific goals/tasks–literal or metaphoriphical.
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