Dress Up and Let's Have a Party

by Remy Charlip

John and his friends come together for a party, using the everyday things around them to construct inventive costumes on the spot. Pots and pans, an empty soap box, your mother’s clothes―these are all things you can wear to a dress-up party! Playing dress-up is a way to be a new self and to imagine for a moment that you are different from who you really are. It's a way to be extravagant or silly, a way to surprise yourself and have a great time!
Written by the prolific and beloved Remy Charlip, Dress Up and Let’s Have a Party is a clever, playful reminder that the potential for fun is always at hand. Originally published in the United States in 1956, Dress Up and Let's Have A Party was his first book.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

Published April 10, 2018

About the author

Abraham 'Remy' Charlip (born January 10, 1929) was an American artist, writer, choreographer, theatre director, designer, and teacher.

He studied art at Straubenmuller Textile High School in Manhattan and fine arts at Cooper Union in New York, graduating in 1949.

In the 1960s, Charlip created a unique form of choreography, which he called "air mail dances". He sent a set of drawings to a dance company, and the dancers ordered the positions and created transitions and context.

He performed with John Cage, was a founding member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for which he also designed sets and costumes, directed plays for the Judson Poet's Theater, co-founded the Paper Bag Players, and served as head of the Children's Theater and Literature Department at Sarah Lawrence College.

He won two Village Voice Obie Awards, three New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year citations, and was awarded a six-month residency in Kyoto from the Japan/U.S. Commission on the Arts. He wrote and/or illustrated more than 30 children's books and passed away in San Francisco, California, on August 14, 2012.

Reviews

[Stephanie Tournas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The simple joy of dressing up is at the heart of this reissue of the 1956 picture book. While his mother bakes a cake, John adorns himself with pots and pans, and invites his friends to come over. His friends use creativity and household items (a rug, a box, string) to disguise themselves, and then they eat cake. Readers will enjoy the disguises and may come up with an idea or two of their own. The retro palette of limited colors has withstood the passage of time. The spare illustrations of the kids and their costumes are placed off center on a white background and are fun to contemplate. They echo the simplicity of the kids' game. The short length (25 pages) and simple text also makes it a fine read aloud for a new reader.

[FM Family · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had that old random energy that some of the lesser known classics have where there's just a bunch of random kids doing something and there's not really much of a narrative. Which fortunately, I and my three year old both enjoy! This was a silly story about a kid who is dressing up in some pots and pans and invites friends over to join and they arrive in various low-budget homemade kid costumes from mountain to meatball. if you like some of the lesser-known Maurice Sendak-related stories like Moon Jumpers, A hole is to dig, or especially The Sign on Rosie's Door, this is worth a read.

[Mary Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a fan of Remy Charlip (Fortunately/Unfortunately). This book is a fun celebration of creativity.

[Terresa Wellborn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming in an old-timey way. (It was first published 1956!)

[Guilherme Semionato · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YXoF...

[Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This throwback picture book is a playful celebration of having fun with friends.

[Mary Thelma · Rating 5 out of 5]

parece que no se sabe apreciar a Remy Charlip... la historia es divertida