The Trouble with Justin

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Little boys and messy rooms seem to be a recurring theme in children’s
literature. This story, therefore, could easily be Dennis the Menace
Part 9 except that Don Gillmor’s off-the-floor sense of humor turns a
common tale into a gold mine of kooky imagery.

The story is simple. Justin, a messy boy, is ordered to clean up his
room. As he starts clearing away the mess, he finds: seven socks; a
beach towel; black-and-white shoes that his mother had bought him and he
hated to wear; a pumpkin; eight shells; and a moose that had escaped
from the zoo. As he continues to clean, he finds: a map; his sister’s
coloring book; his Grade 2 teacher, who had come to visit him when he
was sick; the neighbor’s car; the Red Army Chorus singing the Volga
Boat Song; the planet Saturn, still spinning; and two guys with nets
looking for the escaped moose.

Gillmor seems to have found a kindred spirit in Harvey Chan, the
illustrator for this book. It is not everyone who can draw a moose under
a pile of laundry and get away with it.

The best part of this story, perhaps, is that there is no moralizing.
When the mess is gone Justin goes to bed to dream of the next mess he
will clean. For all the flamboyant imagery, there remains a lovely
thread of reality. Highly recommended.