David Smells! Review

David's ugly. He has trouble wired into his DNA. But the school-age terror from the "No, David!" series clinched a Caldecott medal in his grimy mitts and won the hearts of kids and teachers alike, even if parents who reviewed his books over at Amazon.com gripe about his brattiness.

PRO: In these three board books, we visit David's early years, crashing and banging his way to new destructive lows before collapsing in his mama's arms, a little angel at last. He's not bad, you want to say, just a rambunctious Everyboy in need of a firmer time out, if only you had the heart to enforce it.

CON: Shannon's deliberately crude artwork--all pencil smudges and paint smears--isn't for everybody. I'm reminded of a college art lecture on the "aesthetic of the ugly" that spoiled my appetite for days. It gets grossest when we view the contents of David's omnivorous mouth, but the self-satisfied grin on his face after a big poop will have you chuckling despite yourself. His take on the five senses in "David Smells" will have you alternately gagging and guffawing, depending on your, er, taste for grossness.

SUMMARY: Shannon has a way of connecting to kids that's unparalleled. He knows how their messy little minds work, the kind of trouble they make, what appeals and what repels, and then manages to smoosh it all onto his canvass at once. These are books for babies, and if you read them while making icky faces and loud exclamations, they'll be hooked.