Three Nasty Gnarlies

Three Nasty Gnarlies

From BooklistK-Gr. 2. "We're fabulously smelly / Like pungent potpourri / What could be more beautiful / Than nasty gnarly we?" "We" equals Grubby, Stanky, and Ooga-Mooga, three bulbous, buglike denizens of the dump who spend their days cavorting in trash and celebrating their grossness in song--until a haughty butterfly sashays in and tells them they ought to "spiffy up." The trio jury-rig cocoons, hoping to reproduce the butterfly's "silk wrap" beauty treatment, and are briefly dismayed when the makeover has no discernible effects. Luckily, the three are resilient as they are ugly, smelly, and slimy, and they embrace their gnarliness with enthusiasm redoubled. Graves' vaguely toxic palette is well suited to the setting, and music is included, so teachers can (if they dare) lead a group rendition of the gnarlies' favorite ditty. Kids will relish these stinkers' gleeful unconcern for matters of personal hygiene, along with Graves' infectiously silly verses ("Rocka mumba floobie flow / Nocka wocka moly") and his irreverent spin on the just-be-yourself message. Jennifer MattsonCopyright ? American Library Association. All rights reserved"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is the theme of this hilarious self-help satire that doubles as a fun-to-sing operetta.Based on an obscure operetta by the composer Funguso Smellagrossi, this is a story of three nasty gnarlies who love their lives in the dump until a snooty butterfly comes along and convinces them that they have to look like her to be beautiful. So they wrap themselves in bits of silk and hang upside down from a tree. In the spring, when they discover they are still nasty gnarlies, they must draw on all of their inner strength to appreciate their true selves.Musical score and recipe for Mud Puddle Surprise (a treat made of chocolate pudding, peanut butter, & gummy worms!) are included.From School Library JournalKindergarten-Grade 3-Deliriously happy and pungent, dump denizens Grubby Gurgle (soprano), Stanky Stoo (bass), and Ooga-Mooga (foot stomping/yodeling) revel in their mucky existence until Snooty Judy Butterfly tells them that they "exude a rank bouquet." Devastated, the three friends attempt to mimic Judy's metamorphosis from muddy peasant bug to lovely butterfly. They wrap themselves up in junk cocoons only to emerge sorrowfully in early May as their old unrefined selves. But good self-esteem rescues their happiness and they celebrate the fact that they're just plain gnarly and they love it that way. Loudly cartoonish and weirdly distorted, Graves's acrylic paintings on illustration board are eye-poppers. Illustrations, concept, and rhyming text (often in word bubbles) mesh to form a unified stinky nest of fun. Music by Funguso Smellagrossi for the aria "We're the Nasty Gnarlies" is reproduced on faux slimed pages at the story's end. The song gives the Gnarlies a chance to compare themselves rightfully to "garbage cans in bloom." As the jacket notes say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."-Liza Graybill, Worcester Public Library, MACopyright ? Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.