Synopsis
The hustle and bustle of a family's morning routine is depicted from the perspective of a little boy, who spends his busy day in day care. 15,000 first printing.
Reviews
A boy goes through a typical day at a breakneck pace, impelled by Barrett's (Sing to the Stars) stringently metered text. Beginning in the morning, when the entire family gets ready in the bathroom at once ("Quick, go potty!/ Daddy shaves./ Mommy, in the shower, waves./ Sister, SWISH-SWISH, brushes teeth./ Baby's diaper starts to leak!"), the narrative follows the boy through to the moment when Daddy arrives to pick him up from day care, and ends with a goodnight kiss. In her picture book debut, Murphy uses gouache paints in flat, bright colors with a liberal use of pattern, and does a commendable job of filling in between the lines of the sometimes choppy text. For example, when the boy is the last to be picked up from school, the illustration conveys his anxiety with pulsing colors and subtly conflicting design motifs. This benign book may help kids to think of day care as routine rather than scary, but its focus on the rhythms of the day is not wholly successful. It fails to convey what can be warm and comforting about daily rituals, so the boy's life seems simultaneously hectic and dull. Ages 2-6. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Debut illustrator Murphy uses bright, patterned gouache paintings to illustrate the lively rhymed text about a young child's day while Mommy and Daddy go to work. Certain morning details--the family bathroom experience and Daddy turning the car around to go back for Old Bear--add authenticity. At the day care center, emotions are honestly acknowledged: "Here we are. / Baby, too. / I hug Dad good-bye, so blue. / Daddy kisses tears away. / He'll be back at the end of the day." Though this daycare appears too good to be true, with it's colorful setting (that looks almost exactly like home), the ratio of 18 toddlers to 2 adult caregivers gives pause. And where have Baby and the other infants gone for the day? The children here have plenty of high-quality activities to keep them busy and to keep their minds off missing Mommy and Daddy. Hopefully, kids in day care will find this situation recognizable. Kathy Broderick
PreSchool-Barrett presents a whirlwind tour of the ups and downs of a young boy's day. The scope of the book is broader than just day care; it begins with the family's waking, the morning ablutions, the car ride to day care, and, back at home, dinner, and bedtime. The pace of the rhyming text is a bit hurried, yet busy families will relate to the all-too-familiar activities. "Quick, go potty!/Daddy shaves./Mommy, in the shower, waves./Sister, SWISH-SWISH, brushes teeth./Baby's diaper starts to leak!" The illustrations, done in gouache on watercolor paper, while attractive, reinforce the sense of busyness-wallpaper, clothes, and rags are splashed with loud patterns and bright colors, creating a larger sense of disorder. There are even a few moments of sadness-a tear shed when Dad says good-bye and the loneliness felt by the protagonist and his baby brother when they are the last to be picked up at the end of the day. These incidents are, however, countered by moments of quiet tenderness. Overall, an upbeat and positive slice of life.
Christy Norris Blanchette, Valley Cottage Library, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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