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DAWSON'S PAJAMA DRAMA

This clever bedtime tale delivers a funny, low-stakes mystery.

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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

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TALES FOR VERY PICKY EATERS

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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I WISH YOU MORE

Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.

A collection of parental wishes for a child.

It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.

Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: April 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015

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