In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Bedtime for Mommy
  • Deborah Stevenson
Rosenthal, Amy Krouse. Bedtime for Mommy; illus. by LeUyen Pham. Bloomsbury, 2010 [26p]. ISBN 978-1-59990-341-5 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R 4-7 yrs

Bedtime's come, so a little girl needs to pull her mother away from the computer, shepherd her through cleanup and bathtime, read her a bedtime story, and withstand the usual delaying tactics—only to have to start all over again on Daddy. Rosenthal seems to be specializing in cheerful inverted-expectation stories (Little Hoot, BCCB 3/08, etc.), this time playing out the events with actual people rather than animals; her experience tells in the streamlined text and the quietly clever selection of bedtime-ready elements. There's both gentleness and energy in the artwork, with ink and watercolor figures often haloed in soft pink or golden yellow, floating in vignettes against creamy white backgrounds. Pham is particularly deft at drafting Mom's childlike body language, as the lanky adult leaps with glee when presented with her bath toys or squirms in revulsion at a proffered outfit to lay out for wearing the next day. Though the closing image—the parents peeking in at their dozing daughter—disappointingly undercuts the entertaining fantasy of the main text, this is still a witty upside-down bedtime story that will amuse young sleepyheads.

...

pdf

Share