What do you think?
Rate this book
How to Clean Your Room in 10 Easy Steps
Got a messy room? No problem!
This simple, laugh-out-loud picture-book guide to cleaning your room is sure to make picking up a snap. Here is the first Always wait until your mother hollers, "GET UP THERE AND CLEAN YOUR ROOM—NOW!" using all three of your names. Once she does, you'd better get moving. From dumping out drawers and dividing stuff into piles to arranging all eight zillion of your stuffed animals, here's the kind of advice on room tidying that everyone can relate to.
With funny, direct text by Jennifer LaRue Huget and amazing illustrations by New Yorker artist Edward Koren, this book is sure to appeal to messy kids everywhere.
This simple, laugh-out-loud picture-book guide to cleaning your room is sure to make picking up a snap. Here is the first Always wait until your mother hollers, "GET UP THERE AND CLEAN YOUR ROOM—NOW!" using all three of your names. Once she does, you'd better get moving. From dumping out drawers and dividing stuff into piles to arranging all eight zillion of your stuffed animals, here's the kind of advice on room tidying that everyone can relate to.
With funny, direct text by Jennifer LaRue Huget and amazing illustrations by New Yorker artist Edward Koren, this book is sure to appeal to messy kids everywhere.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
June 4, 2010
"But my room isn't messy. I know exactly where everything is!" Huget and Koren are a perfect match for this so-painfully-true, funny book. Moms everywhere will laugh knowingly, as will their embarrassed (one would hope) daughters. Hurrah for the acknowledgement that girls can be just as messy as boys!
June 28, 2010
What I thought was going to be a book to help my son find an easier way to clean his room proved to be just the opposite. It was a very humorous way a child who doesn't clean their room (Like my son) should clean a room. I laughed so much at this book but decided not to take it home. I didn't want to give my child any more ideas. Good book.
June 26, 2012
Not at all what I was expecting. I agree with the other reviewer -- I also dislike books that undermine lessons you try to teach your children. I also dislike the way the mother yells at the girl to clean her room.
June 15, 2010
The story was really cute, but I hated the style of illustration. I would have given it 4 or 5 stars if the pictures were easier to see and didn't look so jumbled up.
May 22, 2020
Hilarious parody of the ten steps on how to clean your room that any parent can relate too!
Step 1 - Always wait until your mother hollers, "GET UP THERE AND CLEAN YOUR ROOM NOW!" using all three of your names.
Step 2 - Pull everything out of your drawers and closet and shelves. Every. Single. Thing.
Or maybe it's just my kids...
Step 1 - Always wait until your mother hollers, "GET UP THERE AND CLEAN YOUR ROOM NOW!" using all three of your names.
Step 2 - Pull everything out of your drawers and closet and shelves. Every. Single. Thing.
Or maybe it's just my kids...
September 8, 2016
My initial reaction to this book was 'ugh.' I don't really like books that undermine the lessons and ideas that we actually want our kids to learn. And How to Clean Your Room walks a very fine line. It's a *very* realistic portrayal of how one girl cleans her room. At the end, despite having pulled the wool over her mother's eyes, we can appreciate that the girl really does think she's done a great job cleaning up her room. Kids who are inspired will realize that our young room cleaner didn't do a good job at all.
Recommended for grades 1 - 3. This is probably a better choice for public libraries than school libraries.
Recommended for grades 1 - 3. This is probably a better choice for public libraries than school libraries.
August 28, 2010
This wasn't awful, but parts of it made me cringe as to the humor. I can't really explain. I think some kids will love it. But in spite of how messy my room can be, it has never been THIS messy, or even this KIND of messy. And some of the steps while humorous also made me want to gag. But I suppose that's the point.
July 22, 2016
I don't know why I got this. It's a primer on how to resist cleaning up your room in in the most annoying ways possible. Half way through the book Izzy and I indignantly gave the androgynous protagonist a time-out. (for bad behavior)
The kid keeps decaying food in his/her room... that's just gross
The kid keeps decaying food in his/her room... that's just gross
November 7, 2017
i thought this book was kindof silly. i wish there were more books on how to actually clean a room. on the plus side this book did mention sorting. my 5 year old perked up at that and said his teacher has been teaching him about sorting
June 15, 2012
Spurts of humor, but I found the illustrations a little fuzzy and hard to distinguish details. Loved the dust bunnies though!
July 3, 2010
As a parent, I recognize this. I also recognize that, sometimes, this is the way I still clean my house. Made me laugh.
January 11, 2012
It was ok, but I felt like the story didn't quite match the illustrations.
July 30, 2010
I enjoyed the text but the illustrations are hard on the eyes, at least on my over 40 eyes!
September 10, 2010
It's just a bit over your head right now at age 2 1/2. We'll check it out again when you're older.
December 3, 2012
Stereotypes the normal room that kids should have. The images are also almost too busy.
January 13, 2013
The illustrations were cute, and I could see where elementary readers could find this funny.
January 28, 2013
I like the story but I am not crazy about the illustrations.
July 7, 2013
Need a boy version!
June 17, 2019
Funny! Some kinders caught the humor, others disagreed that this book was about how to "clean" your room. :) .
January 4, 2020
This is how I did it. Everly will not be re-reading it.
August 16, 2021
I spotted this children's book as part of a display at my local branch of the Providence Community Library. It was a rollercoaster of expectations for me that ended up dashing them.
My youngest child is on the Autism Spectrum and turned 21 this year. They have always had a notoriously difficult time cleaning their room. Periodically, I try to help them develop skills to manage their messes and I will scope out any possible leads for new techniques and ways to help them. I had hopes for this book.
I liked how it started in that it didn't make the kid wrong for their mess and it did a good job of relating how many parents react (and truly over react) to their children's rooms being messy. I thought that where the book was going to go was to essentially trick the kid into actually cleaning up their room while also showing them that it has immediate and longterm benefits for them too - I know that sounds like I have completely irrational expectations but the book itself added the latter one itself!
In Step 2, the child is told to "Pull everything out of your drawers and closet and shelves. Every Single Thing." (For goodness sake, NO!!! That's a MUCH BIGGER, MORE OVERWHELMING MESS!!!!) And is told, "While you are working, it is okay to talk to yourself. Try 'Oh, I forgot I had this!'" <--See, that last line there? That is what encouraged me to think that the story would trick the kid into realizing a benefit of cleaning up!
Unfortunately, in the end, everthing cluttering the room ends up stuffed in the closet, haphazardly shoved in the dresser and under the bed with the kid and parents looking pleasantly satisfied. But, I was not pleasantly satified at all.
I really would've liked to have seen the child encouraged to ask the parent how to do some of the cleaning and organizing. I really would've liked to have seen the parent actually taking some responsibility for helping the kid learn how to take care of their things too. Far too many parents expect their kids to just know how to do certain chores. They need to be taught and gently but consistently reminded. Taking before and after pictures of specific tasks goes a LONG way towards helping kids become independent by reinforcing what positive outcomes look like.
Frankly, if I had parenthood to do all over again, I would have spent a LOT more time teaching my kids how to do housework correctly and regularly. It is a skill that they need their whole lives and how they address it directly effects how they teach it (or don't) to others they live with in the future whether it is partners, roommates or children. And for some of them, it can become a source of shame and anxiety that can effect them for years.
If I were to read this book with a child, and honestly, I would NOT want them to read it alone the first time they read it, I would prompt discussion with the child about what might be a better approach, what could the parent do to help, what could the kid do to make it easier or better, etc. Kids need to hear that it isn't their fault if they do something incorrectly if they've never been taught how to do it correctly to begin with.
As for the illustations, I am a fan of the illustrator. I've seen their work in The New Yorker for decades. I think it works really well in this book as the style of drawing is kind of a sloppy-sketchy style that meshes well with the cluttered room. This is this artist's style. However, I frankly think that it would've been a useful device to have the illustrations smoother and neater as the kid's room started to get clean.
My youngest child is on the Autism Spectrum and turned 21 this year. They have always had a notoriously difficult time cleaning their room. Periodically, I try to help them develop skills to manage their messes and I will scope out any possible leads for new techniques and ways to help them. I had hopes for this book.
I liked how it started in that it didn't make the kid wrong for their mess and it did a good job of relating how many parents react (and truly over react) to their children's rooms being messy. I thought that where the book was going to go was to essentially trick the kid into actually cleaning up their room while also showing them that it has immediate and longterm benefits for them too - I know that sounds like I have completely irrational expectations but the book itself added the latter one itself!
In Step 2, the child is told to "Pull everything out of your drawers and closet and shelves. Every Single Thing." (For goodness sake, NO!!! That's a MUCH BIGGER, MORE OVERWHELMING MESS!!!!) And is told, "While you are working, it is okay to talk to yourself. Try 'Oh, I forgot I had this!'" <--See, that last line there? That is what encouraged me to think that the story would trick the kid into realizing a benefit of cleaning up!
Unfortunately, in the end, everthing cluttering the room ends up stuffed in the closet, haphazardly shoved in the dresser and under the bed with the kid and parents looking pleasantly satisfied. But, I was not pleasantly satified at all.
I really would've liked to have seen the child encouraged to ask the parent how to do some of the cleaning and organizing. I really would've liked to have seen the parent actually taking some responsibility for helping the kid learn how to take care of their things too. Far too many parents expect their kids to just know how to do certain chores. They need to be taught and gently but consistently reminded. Taking before and after pictures of specific tasks goes a LONG way towards helping kids become independent by reinforcing what positive outcomes look like.
Frankly, if I had parenthood to do all over again, I would have spent a LOT more time teaching my kids how to do housework correctly and regularly. It is a skill that they need their whole lives and how they address it directly effects how they teach it (or don't) to others they live with in the future whether it is partners, roommates or children. And for some of them, it can become a source of shame and anxiety that can effect them for years.
If I were to read this book with a child, and honestly, I would NOT want them to read it alone the first time they read it, I would prompt discussion with the child about what might be a better approach, what could the parent do to help, what could the kid do to make it easier or better, etc. Kids need to hear that it isn't their fault if they do something incorrectly if they've never been taught how to do it correctly to begin with.
As for the illustations, I am a fan of the illustrator. I've seen their work in The New Yorker for decades. I think it works really well in this book as the style of drawing is kind of a sloppy-sketchy style that meshes well with the cluttered room. This is this artist's style. However, I frankly think that it would've been a useful device to have the illustrations smoother and neater as the kid's room started to get clean.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 19, 2017
It was cute. And I very much appreciated the tongue-in-cheek humor presented by the author as she explains all the things a child might do in order to avoid cleaning (or to clean poorly) their bedroom. It really was funny. I laughed out loud. However, I didn't think my kiddos would appreciate the fact that it's a what NOT to do book, so I passed on using it. Maybe if I knew I'd have time for a discussion about the book it would have been fine, but I didn't want to give them any ideas and then not mitigate the damage. In addition, I really did not like the illustrations. Just not my style, I guess, even though the sloppy nature did accentuate the messiness of the room. Overall, it was an okay book, but not the standout for which I had hoped.
July 28, 2018
This book is cute and would be a good example for "how-to" writing. I think the students would get the joke that her room was cleaner before she even started the book. But, one of the things I really like about the book is the fact that it does have a playful kid attitude about how to clean a room. The things the character does are close to what kids might want to do even though the author takes some of the steps further (exaggerating them for clarity) that really makes the points more humorous. There are a number of books about how to clean a room for kids so this might be a good topic to choose if you wanted to look across a number of books on the same subject for analysis.
November 1, 2022
My home schooled kiddos are excellent readers and my 6 year old has been interested in reading "how to" style books. She's been interested in learning good tips on cleaning her room. I ordered this from the library without even reading the books description. Unfortunately i wasn't aware that this was a how NOT to clean your room. I'm glad I read this out loud to her and was able to tell her that these are what not to do. While this was a cute funny book I just wanted to send the warning out to parents that they will need to explain that this will definitely what not to do.
September 12, 2017
This is a cute book because it is very true. Most kids will let their room get really messy and not do anything about it until they get yelled at. Once they get yelled at they still try to get out of it, while cleaning they play with toys they haven't seen in awhile and get distracted, then instead of actually cleaning they shove everything in the closet or under the bed
September 25, 2023
Cleaning your room doesn't have to be hard! Just follow these ten steps to have the best cleanest room ever in no time. Or maybe a little longer than "no time."
I think this book is more fun to read as an adult than it would be for a kid, but it's still silly and fun.
I think this book is more fun to read as an adult than it would be for a kid, but it's still silly and fun.
August 28, 2018
a realistic, humorous view on cleaning your room!
January 20, 2019
Hilarious and oh so true! Parents enjoyed this as much as the kids.
May 17, 2019
5/16/19 Read with Naomi & Julia.
November 29, 2022
The author has portrayed her daughter's room and her room tidying up sarcastically! Loved reading it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews