This clever bedtime tale delivers a funny, low-stakes mystery.
A boy and his family solve the puzzle of his missing pajamas in this debut picture book.
When 4-year-old Dawson wakes up in the morning, his pajamas are always missing. He imagines what might have happened to them: Did he leave his astronaut pajamas on the moon? Did his veterinarian pajamas get “eaten by a goat”? For each day of the week, he wears a different pair of pajamas associated with a profession, and each befalls an imagined tragedy on the job. Finally, when Dawson is out of pajamas, the whole family searches for clues, not realizing that Oliver, the dog, has been stealing them the whole time. Ogilvie’s verses scan well throughout, though sometimes pajamas are referred to as “them” and sometimes “it,” which may confuse young readers. She also introduces challenging and fun-to-say vocabulary words like “quizzical,” making this a good selection for reading aloud. Hosam’s (The World of Little Muslims, 2019) charming cartoon illustrations of the diverse cast are softly textured and packed with humor. Half-dressed Dawson appears in a variety of partially eaten, shrunk, burned, and shredded pajamas in his imagined scenes but always looks pleased with himself in appropriately themed underwear. Kids will giggle at Dawson’s missing clothes, and parents will be impressed with his mother’s problem-solving skills.
This clever bedtime tale delivers a funny, low-stakes mystery.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-692-17636-8
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Crumpled Paper Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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