''Parts'' is a

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

written and illustrated by Tedd Arnold. It was first published on September 1, 1997. Written in rhyme with cartoon-like

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

illustrations, ''Parts'' is the first in Arnold's

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...

on the theme of body parts. It was followed by ''More Parts'' in 2001 and ''Even More Parts'' in 2004. In 1998, it won the "Tellable" Stories for Ages 4–7 Award (Storytelling World) and in 1999, the Colorado Children's Book Award.

Plot summary

The story is aimed at 4-7 year-olds. It was inspired by a real life experience, when the author's young son, Walter, was disturbed by losing his first tooth.Keller, James (2001), p. 10. The protagonist of ''Parts'' is young Chip Block, who notices that some of his hairs remain on his comb, lint is appearing in his navel, his skin is peeling, and a piece of

mucus Mucus ( ) is a slippery aqueous secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. It is typically produced from cells found in mucous glands, although it may also originate from mixed glands, which contain both serous and mucous cells. It ...

(which he assumes is a piece of his

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a ve ...

) falls out of his nose. His anxiety reaches its peak when he discovers one of his teeth is coming loose. Convinced that he is falling apart and will soon become toothless, skinless, brainless, and bald, the boy tries to hold himself together with his father's masking tape until he resembles a

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

. Finding him wrapped in the masking tape, his parents then explain to him about how parts of his body renew themselves.

Sequels

''More Parts''

This

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to ''Parts'' was first published in 2001. Like its predecessor, the story is aimed at 4-7 year olds, written in rhyme and illustrated by the author. Chip from ''Parts'' now becomes frightened by his literal interpretation of the

idiomatic Idiom, also called idiomaticness or idiomaticity, is the syntactical, grammatical, or structural form peculiar to a language. Idiom is the realized structure of a language, as opposed to possible but unrealized structures that could have develop ...

expressions involving body parts that he hears adults using. Imagining that these expressions could lead to his body falling apart (his central preoccupation in ''Parts''), Chip invents various kinds of protection for himself. For example, when his father asks him "to give a hand", he glues gloves to his hands to keep them from coming off his arms. Other expressions covered in the story include: *''"It’s sure to crack you up."'' *''"Stretch your legs."'' *''"Hold your tongue."'' *''"Scream your lungs out."''

''Even More Parts''

This final book in Arnold's

was published in 2004, and is again illustrated by him. Unlike its two predecessors, ''Even More Parts'' is not, strictly speaking, a

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional ( fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller, novel, etc. ...

and is not written in rhyme. Aimed at children 4-8, it is an introduction to the use of idioms or

figures of speech A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from ordinary language use in order to produce a rhetorical effect. Figures of speech are traditionally classified into '' schemes,'' which vary the ordinary ...

in language, and more specifically to the use of idioms involving body parts. The protagonist is Chip from the first two books of the series, his name is revealed as – ''Chip''. Chip has compiled a list of all the worrying and mystifying things he has heard from adults, and makes himself a

suit of armour Plate armour is a historical type of personal body armour made from bronze, iron, or steel plates, culminating in the iconic suit of armour entirely encasing the wearer. Full plate steel armour developed in Europe during the Late Middle Ages, e ...

to protect him while he is at school. The remainder of the book is an illustrated list of the sayings that have puzzled him. For example, one page shows the students' eyeballs flying out of the children's eye sockets hitting the teacher when she says, ''"I want all eyes on me."'' The illustrations often feature minor characters from the previous books – Chip's toy superhero,

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

and

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...

Bibliographic information

*Tedd Arnold, ''Parts'', New York:

Dial Books for Young Readers The Dial Press was a publishing house founded in 1923 by Lincoln MacVeagh. The Dial Press shared a building with ''The Dial'' and Scofield Thayer worked with both. The first imprint was issued in 1924. Authors included Elizabeth Bowen, W. R. Bu ...

, 1997. Written and Illustrated by Tedd Arnold, 32 pages. *Tedd Arnold, ''More Parts'', New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2001. Written and Illustrated by Tedd Arnold, 32 pages. *Tedd Arnold, ''Even More Parts: Idioms from Head to Toe'', New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2004. Written and Illustrated by Tedd Arnold, 40 pages. (Other editions of these books have been published by Puffin and Scholastic Inc.)

Puffin Versions

*The first book mentioning the titles on the back cover '' No Jumping on the Bed!'' and '' Green Wilma'' *The second book mentioning the title on the back cover as the illustrator of ''Giant Children'' *No titles mentioned on the back cover of the third book

Notes and references

*Fredericks, Anthony D.
''Much More Social Studies Through Children's Literature: A Collaborative Approach''
Libraries Unlimited, 2007, pp. 43–45. *Hopkins, Gary
Review: ''Parts''
''Education World'', 1998. *Keller, James
''The Big Book of Picture-Book Authors & Illustrators''
Scholastic, 2001. *McElmeel, Sharron L.
''Children's Authors and Illustrators Too Good to Miss: Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies''
Libraries Unlimited, 2004, pp. 6–10.

External links

Tedd Arnold's official web site
Accessed 24 September 2010. {{Portal , Children's literature 1997 children's books Books by Tedd Arnold American picture books Puffin Books books