I Don't Believe It, Archie! (review)
Jeannette Hulick · Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books./Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books · 2012
Reviewed by: I Don't Believe It, Archie! Jeannette Hulick Norriss, Andrew . I Don't Believe It, Archie!; illus. by Hannah Shaw. Fickling/ Random House, 2012. 124p. Library ed. ISBN 978-0-385-75251-0 $15.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-385-75250-3 $12.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-375-98476-1 $9.99 R Gr. 3-5. This British import describes a typically hectic week in the life of young Archie, who constantly happens on the outlandish the way TV sleuths constantly happen on the murderous. On Monday, Archie is the sole witness to a series of events involving a runaway piano and a gravel-covered car; thanks to Archie's grasp of the situation, the people trapped in the car are saved, and the girl from the car, Cyd, becomes his friend. As the week rolls on, Cyd turns out to be quite useful, as she is a sharp-eyed witness able to explain to others the events that inexplicably pile up on Archie: "When things go wrong, it really helps to have someone around who can go and get the glue solvent, or work out that the dog's not dead, or produce a film of what's happened." There's an almost folkloric structure to Archie's story, with the crazy complications building cumulatively and each day following a patterned open and close with Archie's mother; a satisfying ending ties the whole week's events together. Archie himself evokes lots of sympathy, and Norriss' descriptions of the various events are pithy and amusing. Shaw's monochromatic illustrations are frequent and friendly, and they help clarify a few of the preposterous incidents. [End Page 472] Hand this to the kind of kids who are entranced by funny tall tales or by Rube Goldberg machines. Copyright © 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois