Bored--nothing to do!

by Peter Spier

BORED NOTHING TO DO by Peter Spier. Softcover 8 x 10 inches

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Adventure, Humor

42 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Peter Spier has established himself as one of the most gifted illustrators in this county. His Noah's Ark was the 1978 Caldecott Award winner, while The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night was a Caldecott Honor book in 1962. The firs two books in his widely acclaimed Mother Goose Library, London Bridge Is Falling Down! and To Market! To Market! were winner and runner-up respectively for the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. The Erie Canal and Noah's Ark both won Christopher Awards, while Gobble, Growl, Grunt received Honorable Mention in the first Children's Science Book Award program, sponsored by the New York Academy of Science.

Born and educated in Amsterdam, Mr. Spier came to New York in 1952 after serving in the Royal Dutch Navy and working for a number of years as a reporter for Elsevier's Weekly, Holland's largest magazine. He has illustrated over a hundred books and has contributed a series of murals to the H. F. Du Pont Winterthur Museum in Delaware.

Reviews

[booklady · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I learned the book's premise—two boys are bored, so they build an airplane—I immediately thought of my husband, the original aviation aficionado who has been building model airplanes and painting them since he was a little guy.

I read the book to him today and he loved it! It is cute and while I would not be in favor of having any little builders taking apart my house/car/beds/fence/etc., in order to confiscate the components required to build an airplane, much less enjoy seeing them flying over the neighborhood, the creativity suggested by the book is great fun.

Hopefully in a few years my husband, daughter or I will be able to share this amusing book with a little Wright brother in the making!

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read because my mother happened to mention it... she's remembered it since it was new, I guess, as the boys are about the age my brothers were then. She liked it even better this time around. Without her influence I might give 3 stars, but she helped me to appreciate the details and the humor, and to suspend disbelief.

And yes, that kind of spanking was still fine back then. Very rarely used, not painful, administered by a parent who is acting, not reacting ... just a strong attention-getter.

I am glad her library system still has a copy and I gave it a circulation boost.
---
Consider pairing with That Neighbor Kid.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a good fit for my family. If you read it with your kids, there should be some family discussion as well. There were several things that concerned me, including a spanking in the story. Written in and for another time.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bored - Nothing To Do! by Peter Spier follows two boys kicked out of their house with the admonition "Go do something". Inspired by an old propeller in the garage, they collect items from all over the house and start building an airplane. After test-flying their creation, they are discovered by their parents, admonished and sent to their room--starting the cycle all over again.
Created by color wash over pen drawings, the illustrations range from small segmented squares to full two page spreads. The level of detail in each painting carries the story, conveying characterization, setting, and action. While younger children may find the illustrations too complicated, older children will enjoy re-reading the story to absorb every detail. The sparse text also contains a strong emphasis on dialogue which helps create strong characters and smooth plot lines. Making good use of parallel structure, the text uses a repeated theme of listing the many items used in the boys' creation.
Written in 1978, Bored - Nothing To Do! may come across as old fashioned parenting - oblivious parents, punishment by spanking delivered by the father, etc. However, its portrayal of the moments of utter boredom found in any childhood, is timeless. Due to the age of the book, I was unable to find any publisher reviews, however Peter Spier is a winner of the both the Caldecott Medal and Horn Book Award. This book was a favorite of mine and one that I would continue to recommend to children today.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

A WONDERFUL book!!! Do NOT show this to your children!!!
8-)

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book inspires creativity and the imaginatioin in children and adults alike. Love Spier’s illustrations.

[Eileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hilarious!!! And of course all of the great Peter Spier drawings.

[Missy LeBlanc Ivey · Rating 3 out of 5]

2023 - ‘70’s Immersion Reading Challenge

Bored-Nothing To Do! by Peter Spier (1978; 1991 ed.) 42 pages.

This is cute. Minimal words per page, lots to look over on each page.

Two brothers are told to go find something to do. You know…like our parents used to tell us back in the “olden” days. Sure enough, just like boys, they go destroying everything around the house to put together something wonderful. A little too wonderful…an airplane. Something more realistic would have made the story better.

This reminds me of days gone by when my kids were little. My youngest, Kristin, was sad when our goldfish died. So, I told her, “Go bury it and we’ll have a funeral. Well, she was only 4 years old. She tore into a premium bag of purchased topsoil (used the whole bag) and tore off pieces of Coast Guard housing fence to make a cross. She had it all set up and came and got me for the funeral. Jimminy-Cricket! Tore up Coast Housing fence! No price too high for a goldfish funeral, right?

Then, as we were being transferred and going through our inspection checkoff to leave the house, we discovered that our 7-year-old thought it was so cool the hit the corner sidings at the back of the house with a baseball bat (destroying them) because slugs would fall out. Aye, yi, yi!

The things kids will do! Better beware when you tell your kids, “For Pete’s sake, go find something to do.”
There’s no telling.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was young and playing with other boys, we always had big ideas about making something. We would find a few odd parts and proclaim that our goal was to make a working model. Of course, we had no specific knowledge of how it worked or how to get all of the other parts.
This story is about two brothers that are bored and looking for something interesting to do. They find an old wooden propellor in the shed and the light bulb goes off and they find a set of blueprints for a plane. Armed with this, they scour their farm for all the other parts they need, the wheels come off a baby buggy, the engine is from a small car, the television aerial, phone line, clothesline, fence, wood and bed sheets are all incorporated into the plane. Satisfying the fantasy of boys everywhere, the plane not only starts, but flies.
However, the parents are extremely displeased when they discover all that is missing, and the boys do a flyby of the farm. Punishment is given and they must put all things back the way they were. It concludes with the boys once again lying on their beds expressing boredom.
This is a great book, the expression of the fantasies of many boys in late elementary school. We never made anything that worked, but that never stopped us from expressing our goals.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son kept asking for books that feature kids building planes or other flying machines and I thought of Bored - Nothing to Do! which I remembered from my own childhood. It is the (fictional) tale of two brothers who are bored one summer's day and decide to build an airplane with materials scavenged from around their house and yard. Their creativity is impressive, though it might have gone better for them in the end if they'd asked permission first. Reading it now as an adult, I really didn't like the spanking the boys receive, and felt that a better discussion could have occurred instead (such as, we are proud of your ingenuity but you shouldn't take things without asking!) However, the illustrations are so good and the story so humorous, I'm still glad I shared it with my kids. I love the final illustration after the boys are sent to their rooms where they are once again bored... those posters of the moon landing and NASA rockets on the wall are bound to inspire them (too bad there wasn't a sequel!)

[Benjamin Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember this book fondly from my childhood. To me, it's one of the best and sticks out in my mind vividly. This book was an early reinforcement to the already growing confidence in my gift of being able to fix and build anything I set my mind to. The book does a good job of expanding a child's imagination and can-do attitude. If you have a child that seems destined to be a fixer, give them this book.

[Whitney Leanhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Spier starts the book off with two boys not knowing what to do and are bored. They then begin to build an airplane out of parts around their home. It requires a lot of materials to build this airplane and to make it work. This book gives a clear example of making something fun when you don't have all the resources.

[Sarah Limb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I really loved this book! It was so funny and clever. The only reason why I docked it one star is I have the worst adverse reaction to children being spanked. I hate it. I don’t find it funny at all. So because of that illustration and moment in the story it definitely put a bad taste in my mouth. But I love that the kids built an airplane haha, so crazy!!!

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Henry's cousins find all the supplies they need to take flight.

Okay, this part might be unrealistic: Spoiler alert: It only costs them a LOT of hard, creative work, and a spanking. (They also get a kiss.)

Please track down a copy of this book for any and all adjacent sons or nephews, bored or otherwise; it's less than $10 on Thriftbooks.

[Jessica Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many things I liked such as the illustrations, the boy's creativity, and finding something to do when bored. I didn't like the spanking approach the parents took, and the general pilfering of items without asking. But maybe this is a good book to illustrate those issues. Hmmm... I'd check this out from the library again, but I don't think I loved it enough to own it.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my children's favorite book. I went looking for it to read to my grandson and my copy has disappeared . . . hum. Guess I need to get another.

This is a classic tale of what two boys, with a lot of imagination and ingenuity, can come up with when they put their minds to it.

[Spaceship · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book I ever checked out from a library. Went to the school library with my 1st grade class and picked this one because airplane. I'm glad I finally found it, I've been looking a long time for this.

[Anna Jeffries · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book of my childhood for which I retain such tremendous nostalgia and affection.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet and simple.

[Mary T · Rating 5 out of 5]

#cbad 2018-2019 - 5th grade SCA - 11/14/18 - average rating 4.6

[William Wanlass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, I would not be mad at them if they made an airplane that I could use!

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Includes a “good spanking”. Not good, and not an appropriate response to children accomplishing something extraordinary. A book that did not age well.

[Velvet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always liked this better than Crash! Bang! Boom! when my grandparents would read them to us.

Great illustrations and more of a story line. Fun little read!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really clever (I wish I could do that!!!!!!)

[Peggy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good picture book for third grade boys - a story they can relate to! Sent outside by their mother, this story, told mostly in pictures is of two brothers who cause destruction and mayhem by entertaining themselves - building a plane from items around the house and farm (including the engine from their father's car). Probably not found in many libraries anymore - there is a scene with corporal punishment in the end with one brother receiving a sound spanking by his father - it is a humorous and classic Spier's book.

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

My six-year-old son read this three times on his own, of his own volition. There aren't many words here, granted, but I love this book because it interested my son enough to actually read it, which is pretty rare.

Also, I liked it. Two boys build an airplane because they're bored! The illustrations are detailed and funny.

[Paul Hankins]

A celebration of imagination when two boys set out to make an airplane to combat their own boredom. Funny. Imaginative. An episode of corporal punishment depicted may be unsettling to younger readers.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a lot of text but a funny book
On a lazy afternoon, two bored brothers keep themselves busy by building and flying an airplane.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Rainbow: Bored, Nothing to Do

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just plain fun.