DAWSON'S PAJAMA DRAMA

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.