MEET THE PARENTS

What are parents actually good for?

“Sometimes you think that your mom and your dad / are just there to nag you and boss you like mad. / Brush your teeth! / Get a move on! / Say thank you! / Say please! / Tidy up! / No more sweets! / Wash your hands! / Eat your peas!” But it turns out parents are handy for quite a lot of other things, like mending toys and acting as foundations for sand castles. They’re good for warming hands on cold days and disposing of bits of food you don’t want to eat. “Parents are towels for / wiping your grime on. / They’re whirlers and twirlers / and tree trunks to climb on.” But when they have sorted out all your problems…you better watch out, since parents love tickles! Bently’s rhythmic text offers gentle reminders to young listeners of all the small, helpful things parents do. Ogilvie’s mixed-media illustrations are a perfect match, extending and augmenting the humor. Parents of every ethnicity, size and shape as well as both genders are squirted with ketchup and hoses, act as horses and donkeys, and, of course, give good tickles. While it is wonderful to see dark-skinned parents as well as a dad in a turban, the absence of obvious same-sex parents is a missed opportunity.

Heart-warming to smile-inducing to giggle-generating, this book gives parents and children of most types something to relate to.