DAD’S BALD HEAD

Young Pete has to cope with a small but unsettling change in this low-key family story. Accustomed to rising with his father to “shave” side by side, Pete is startled one morning to see Dad lathering up his scalp too, and mowing off the patchy remains. Even though everyone takes Dad’s shiny dome in stride, Pete’s thrown off balance—and suddenly looking at other people’s tonsorial arrangements with a new awareness. The calm, smiling figures in O’Malley’s pictures echo Many’s laid-back tone, conveying a “let’s just give this a try” easiness that puts the experiment in perspective, and in the end, Pete signals acceptance with a kiss on his father’s shiny pate. The marked lack of high drama might make this useful as a help in coping with similar domestic flurries in households with Gen-X parents. (Picture book. 6-8)