A DAY OFF SCHOOL

A story about what doesn’t happen on a sick day.

Herbie, who presents East Asian and rocks a black pudding-bowl haircut, has the sniffles, as well as a secret: When his parents tell him he’s staying home, he’s “really excited. A whole day off school! ALL TO HIMSELF!!” There’s loads to do at his house: Herbie builds a couch-cushion fort, works on his yo-yo tricks, watches cartoons, and more…and is finished with everything on his sick day to-do list by lunchtime. Herbie’s idleness means that he has brain space to think about school: “What if something really good happened there today? Like an EXTRA playtime? Or a DOG loose in the CORRIDORS?” Because the plot is centered on a child’s inactivity, there’s an extra onus on the art to add interest, and the illustrators are up for the task: They get the story out of Herbie’s house by depicting the fruits of the child’s active imagination. “What if pirates invaded” and “the school needed everyone to HELP PROTECT its SECRET TREASURE CHEST?” The art, rendered in watercolor, gouache, pen and ink, and Procreate, has a daintily labored-over look; its elegance is reinforced by hand-lettered text. Readers shouldn’t expect a lesson on the folly of missing school: The story’s ending, which hinges on a sight gag, makes clear that this book is all in good fun.

A winsome be-careful-what-you-wish-for tale.