Brigid wants to have colored markers like her friends have, but Mom is uncertain . . . she doesn’t want marker drawings on the walls or the floor or on Brigid. Finally, with a promise that the marker color will wash off everything, Mom says okay and buys five hundred [!!!] markers for her daughter.

For a week, Brigid makes wonderful pictures and is content; then she asks for markers that smell. Mom sees her drawings and says, “Wow! My kid is an artist,” and buys her daughter five hundred scented markers. And, for another week, Brigid makes wonderful pictures and is content.

Reminding her mother that she didn’t draw on the walls, or the floor, or herself, Brigid then asks for the best kind of markers: super-indelible-never-come-off-till-you’re-dead-and-maybe-even-later coloring markers. So Mom buys five hundred super-indelible-never-come-off-till-you're-dead-and-maybe-even-later coloring markers and for three weeks Brigid makes wonderful pictures and is content.

Then she gets bored.

And Brigid colors her fingernails . . . her hands . . . her face . . . her belly-button . . . and almost all of herself until she looks like mixed-up rainbows. And, of course, the color refuses to wash off. So Brigid finds a marker that is just the right color, the color of herself, and colors herself all over until she is her regular color again.

But Mother discovers what Brigid has done; she calls the doctor, and Brigid gets an orange pill. What will the orange pill do? And what is the big surprise about Dad?

This cute picture book is sure to have young readers giggling . . . especially at the surprise ending. Filled with exaggerations, predictability, over-the-top silliness, and brilliant illustrations, the target audience for this giggle-fest is the young reader, ages four through seven. The repetition is perfect for young readers as is the predictability of the story; the laugh-out-loud silliness is simply delightful.

For those who insist that every book written for children must teach a lesson of some sort, perhaps the one to learn here is that actions have consequences, or that you should always be true to your word.

But shouldn’t it be okay to have a book to read just because it’s ridiculously silly, because it makes the Little Ones laugh . . . and maybe it teaches the most important lesson of all, the one that says that reading truly is fun?

Recommended. ( )

This book was so humorous and I think a lot of kids could relate to the main character drawing on everything, including herself. The book encourages that creativity while also showing the dangers of taking it too far. ( )

Brigid loves coloring and keeps asking her mom for the latest and greatest markers. Her mom is worried about her coloring on herself and the walls but Brigid convinces her that she will not. Next Brigid gets the extreme permanent markers that never ever come off until your dead. Her drawings are so beautiful she decides to color herself, which causes all sorts of problems. GENRE: contemporary realistic fiction. USES: following instructions. MEDIA: ink and watercolor.

Love the colors! ( )

This is cute--it starts out as a simple story about the infinite maw of a child for child-oriented consumer goods, and ends up a surrealistic tale where the girl turns invisible and has to paint herself a new face and turns her father into a corpselike horror. ( )