GROWN-UPS NEVER DO THAT

A compendium of expectation-upsetting moves performed by oblivious adults.

The prose is straightforward, belied by colorful illustrations. An elegantly dressed woman bashes a bewildered, bespectacled gent with a large blue painting; caption: “Adults never misbehave.” A dad who has apparently stepped on a child’s Lego is several feet in the air, eyes bulging and tongue sticking out in pain; caption: “They never yell.” A double-page spread of examples, 10 in all, accompanies the caption, “They’re never clumsy.” Two mountains of colorful papers flank a woman at her desk: “They’re never messy.” (She is about to pull a single piece of paper from the middle of a pile, toppling a cup of coffee.) A tennis match illustrates two of Cali’s tongue-in-cheek observations. On one side of the net, a player is thumbing her nose (“They never make funny faces”) while on the other, a player stomps angrily on her racket (“They never lose their temper”). There are 23 dubious claims in all, every one delightfully illustrated with irony-laden wit. The author’s concluding advice: “So you really should be just like them.” The child who’s been taking notes on all of this might beg to differ. Cali’s delightfully droll text is apt in its minimalism; Chaud’s pictures and fairly diversely cast consistently earn laughter.

Hilarious.