Rhymes and rebuses see a young boy through his perhaps-not-so-sick-after-all day off from school tale from the two mistresses of this format. Our hero wakes up feeling a tad off. As he lies in bed, he sings a little cumulative poem of the things he will need: “I need a box of tissues, in case I sneeze . . . I need an extra blanket, if you please.” Blankets and pillows and a cozy cat soon give way to finger puppets and puzzles and, hey—why not?—a few cartoon programs on TV. After some tea and toast, when things get cracking, his mother pokes her head in his bedroom: “You think I’m not sick / because I did a tumbling trick? / You say if I were really ill, / I’d not complain, I’d just lie still?” Just when he’s beginning to feel a twinge of guilt about the whole thing, it’s discovered that there is no school that day on account of snow. “That is too bad! Hurrah! Hurray! / I’m glad I’m feeling well today!” Now that’s a nifty out, allowing a good laugh where some tsk-tsking is otherwise called for. “Once again, Parker’s guileless, watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations keep pace with the gathering rhyme, fitting rebuses into the verse text so that young readers can join in. (Picture book. 4-7)
