Drew the Screw

November 15, 2015
An anthropomorphic screw introduces readers to the tools in his shed then suffers a modest existential crisis before he learns his own raison d'etre. Cerato deploys a vibrant palette and plenty of electric complementary colors--although the absence of a distinctive hand other than an electronic one is also in evidence--to add an important degree of oomph to this scant narrative. Drew, the tour guide, is a screw of few words: "The tape measures." "The hammer hits." "The saw cuts." Easy enough for a book aimed at fledgling readers, 59 words in total, with illustrations full of bold action to help put the words into their contexts. Some of the sentences are a bit limp--"The clamp holds things"; as does, for instance, a refrigerator--and it does feel a bit aggressive when friendly little Drew finds himself encircled by his tool mates, who demand, "What can you do?" as if Drew were a third wheel in the toolshed. Then the freckle-faced white boy who has been busy in the background all this time scoops Drew up and puts his insecurities to rest, although Cerato never explains exactly what it is that Drew does, just shows him happily holding a sign in place. He could, after all, just be another clamp. Words like "measures" might be challenging for this first reader, but for the most part, Cerato brings the coolness of working in the toolshed to life. (Picture book. 4-8)

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July 1, 2016
Told from the perspective of a screw living in a garage full of tools, this book uses simple words and short sentences to introduce tool purposes and tell the story of a boy building a treehouse. The personification of the tools is somewhat uneven, but the functional descriptions are clear. Bright digital illustrations follow the progress of the project and give the objects personalities.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)