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SLEEPY, THE GOODNIGHT BUDDY

Name: SLEEPY, THE GOODNIGHT BUDDY
Author: Drew Daywalt
ISBN: 978-1-4847-8969-8

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Scott Campbell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 11, 2018

Bedtime-bookshelf fodder.

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Will a goodnight buddy help restless Roderick fall asleep?

The opening text cuts to the chase and declares, “Roderick hated going to bed.” Campbell’s accompanying watercolor illustration shows a pajama-clad boy with his back to readers (and parents). He looks away from his toys and casts a defiant look over his shoulder at his parents, whose bodies are only partially visible on the page as they loom over him. Humorous text and art proceed to share his various stalling techniques, including his intentional provocation of a litany of “reasons why he couldn’t have a pony.” Roderick is resistant when his parents introduce him to Sleepy, “a goodnight buddy to help him sleep.” The stuffed animal looks like a cross between a bear and a moose with enormous eyes that stare at Roderick until he finally tosses him in his closet. He’s shocked and exclaims, “You’re alive!” when Sleepy protests. Sleepy then turns the tables on Roderick and wears him out with a series of demands and protestations against going to sleep. Lo and behold, an exhausted Roderick finally collapses in his bed, but not before Sleepy’s antics and Roderick’s responses to them can delight readers—though some may object to a cheap attempt for laughs when Roderick reads aloud a book entitled The Witch’s Booty, about “a witch with a very big butt,” and a rapid-fire barrage of variants on “freak” in the dialogue. Roderick is a pink-skinned, big-eyed boy with a mop of dark curls.

Bedtime-bookshelf fodder. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-4847-8969-8

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WRONG BOOK
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Alex Willmore

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CRAYONS LOVE OUR PLANET
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

- BOOK REVIEW
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY FROM THE CRAYONS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

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ANNA CARRIES WATER

by Olive Senior ; illustrated by Laura James ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2014

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Anna, the youngest in a large family, desperately wants to carry her coffee can of water on her head.

She doesn’t yet have this skill that all her siblings have mastered. Why, Karen can even read while she carries a water container on her head, a detail noted in the exuberant paintings accompanying the simple text, ideal for reading aloud. There is another problem. Anna is afraid of the cows in Mr. Johnson’s field, near the spring. One day, when she is trailing way behind the others, Anna just starts running away from her bovine enemies (very peaceful creatures, as depicted in the illustrations). Her whole family comes to find her, and they all witness a grand sight: Anna running with her full can on her head and not spilling a single drop! James, of Antiguan background, allows her bold acrylic paintings in tropical colors to sprawl across wide double-page spreads of lush Caribbean landscapes. The hummingbirds and butterflies add a bit of whimsy to Anna’s cover portrait. While not mentioned in the text, the Jamaican flag is seen on the wall of a country store, and the author was born there. When water easily comes out of a faucet, young readers rarely think about the difficult chore of carrying water, but they will empathize with Anna’s desire to reach an important milestone. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-896580-60-9

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Tradewind Books

Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING

- BOOK REVIEW
BOONOONOONOUS HAIR!
by Olive Senior ; illustrated by Laura James

- BOOK REVIEW
BIRTHDAY SUIT
by Olive Senior & illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes

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THE DINOSAUR THAT POOPED A PLANET!

by Tom Fletcher & Dougie Poynter ; illustrated by Garry Parsons ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2017

It’s easy to smell a storytime hit, thanks to the combination of unvarnished doggerel and poop in literally astronomical...

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When Danny takes his voracious pet dinosaur into space but forgets to bring lunch, there’s only one way to get back home.

Soaring into orbit aboard a rocket stolen from the science museum, Danny’s all set for an exciting adventure. Unfortunately, the lack of provisions soon has his humongous companion not only chowing down on the control boards, but sallying out to chomp on the moon, Martian passers-by, “satellites, Saturn, and six supernovas, / Shape-shifting saucers and seven space rovers,” until at last even the spacecraft itself has gone down the hatch. How to get back to Earth? Dino to the rescue: “With the feeling of guilt deep down in its gut, / Its brain brewed a plan involving its butt.” Propelled by a massive diarrheic stream that looks in the cartoon illustrations like golden cake batter studded with partially digested science gear, off rockets the white lad perched aboard his bulbous buddy…leaving behind a new, brown companion for the moon. Fletcher, Poynter, and Parsons gleefully and unapologetically play to the lowest possible common denominator, from concept to limping verse and (adult) stomach-turning visuals.

It’s easy to smell a storytime hit, thanks to the combination of unvarnished doggerel and poop in literally astronomical quantities. (Picture book. 4-6)