Remy Charlip (1929–2012)

This amusing picture-book follows the wildly fluctuating fortunes of Ned, a young New York boy who is (fortunately) invited to a surprise party. Unfortunately, the party is far away... but fortunately, a friend loans Ned an airplane. Unfortunately, the motor explodes... but fortunately, Ned makes it to the parachute. And so it goes, back and forth, as Ned makes his adventure-filled way to a party, where there is one final twist in store...

I enjoyed Remy Charlip's Fortunately - my first title show more by this prolific picture-book author/artist - and imagine that young readers will find its deadpan back-and-forth humor even more hilarious than I did. I really liked the way that the illustrations alternated between brightly colored skies, when depicting the "fortunate" scenes, and dull, gray-toned black-and-white vistas, when depicting the "unfortunate" ones. It really added some extra oomph to the story! All in all, a fun little book, sure to appeal to young readers looking for a tale where anything can happen. show less

Remy Charlip was a choreographer, dancer, poet, artist and children's book author. He's also one of my favorite authors of children's books.

His books are surreal and playful. Fortunately builds on a series of events much like The House the Jack Built nursery rhyme. Each new event poses a new problem that requires a solution. The problem comes with "unfortunately" and the solution is provided with "fortunately."

The basic story follow's Ned's travels from New York to Florida to attend a party show more he has been invited to. On the way he has a number of misfortunes, each one more surreal than the previous. And yet all these apparently random events do help Ned reach his goal. show less

The little schoolgirl in this story leads such a busy life that she will, never, ever, ever, ever have enough time to read her book (which is, cleverly enough, “this” book – the same book which you are reading). As she leads us through the many things she has to do during her day – from putting on mittens to calling all her friends to tell them that she is worried that she will never have enough time to read her book – her family members wander in and out of the story commenting show more and offering random bits of advice. Aside from her father, none of her other family members are named although they all live together in the same house.

The family is a wonderfully eclectic mix with members ranging from elders to a baby and including at least three different races, and the scenes where they sit down to a busy dinner together are a real joy to behold. This is a great book for showing the different shapes that a happy family can take – and for showing that dads can cook! – without belaboring the point. Reviewed by Book Dads show less

Ned has been invited to a surprise party in Florida. Unfortunately, Ned lives in New York. So it begins...as Ned travels in an airplane only to have the plane explode as he falls from the sky in a parachute that has a hole in it. Ned is fine. This book is illustrated beautfully and simply. The word "Fortunately" tells the tale of how Ned extricates himself from each unfortunate event. The word "unfortunately" begins the unfortunate event. The fortunate pages are in color and the unfortunate show more pages in black and white. Of course Ned ultimately ends up at the party. He is never hurt although he comes close. This book would be read in the middle elementary grade levels because it could be a little bit scary for the extra young children. This book could lead into discussions about whether or not the boy would get hurt and then we can talk about how if we make a mistake or something doesn't go the way we want it to that it will end up being okay in the long run. show less