LET GEORGE DO IT!
by George Foreman & Fran Manushkin & illustrated by Whitney Martin
Inspired by the lead author’s real family, five brothers, teenaged to toddler and all named George, scramble about a house (decorated with portraits of historical Georges from Carver to Patton) preparing a birthday party for their same-named paterfamilias. The text runs to one-lined captions: “George made the cake. George vacuumed. George put up decorations. George took out the trash, and George took a nap”—leaving it to Martin’s splashy, effervescent cartoons to show just which George does what. “Mrs. George” does put in an occasional appearance, but really, the boys have it here, and though the fixed grins on the lads and their hugely muscled Dad look more Cosby than Foreman, the theme of working together, albeit sometimes at amusing cross purposes, toward a common goal comes through without preaching. An above-average celebrity effort, with some product placement in the pictures, but less than you might expect. (Picture book. 5-7)