CORNELIUS P. MUD, ARE YOU READY FOR BED?

In an amusing counterpart to David Shannon’s instant classic No, David! (1998), a cheery piglet calls out affirmatives to a series of bedtime queries from an oblivious parent: “Have you put your toys away?” “Did you feed your fish?” “Did you choose a book?” and so on. But the simple, brightly colored pictures tell a different story, as those toys are all piled into the fridge, the fish are dining on cookies and Cornelius, clad in swimwear as well as pj’s, is staggering beneath a tottering pile of reading—including the likes of Where the Wild Pigs Are, and The Day the Piggies Crawled Away. Still, by the time that parent, portrayed generically in shirt and sweat pants, finally steps in, Cornelius lacks only a hug to be ready for dreamland. Well, not exactly . . . With only a few very large words per page for text, and figures placed against featureless, unevenly brushed backgrounds in the art, this helter-skelter bedtime ritual even has a David-ish look—but its unique tack makes it more that just borrowed goods. (Picture book. 5-7)