TOO PRINCESSY!

The superpink cover’s a bit of a pink (red) herring for those seeking a princess or anti-princess theme, but this sibling of Too Purpley! (2010) and Too Pickley! (2010) has a field day showcasing one hilariously realistic way that kids reject toys.

“I am bored!” announces a pigtailed girl, lying upside down on the floor with an emoticon frown. From there until the penultimate page, the text is made exclusively of rhyming explanations for why this toy and that toy aren’t worth her playtime. They’re “Too jolly, too jumpy, / too diggy, too dumpy!” (jolly and jumpy are a jack-in-the-box and a wind-up bird on a trampoline, diggy and dumpy are a steam shovel and a dump truck) or “Too goopy, / too gluey, // too Marsy, / too mooey!” (goopy is modeling clay, gluey is collage crafts, Marsy is a telescope and mooey is—natch—a riding cow). What’s wrong with a puzzle? “Too piecey.” A wagon? “[T]oo zoomy.” Bright colors and high visual energy match the quick verse. Listeners will enjoy the scansion; observers will be tickled that as hard as this girl clings to her indefatigable determination to be bored, she’s actually having a quite a romp. Leloup slyly shows her relishing most of the toys—albeit briefly—before tossing them aside.

Adults won’t be surprised at the only object she stamps with approval, and kids will want re-reads.