Off to See the Sea!

It is bath time and Mom whispers it into her little one’s ear, only to find that the child disappears. It isn’t time for hide-and-seek, but that seems to be what the youngster decides to play. Anything to put off the bath. But after a little convincing, they are in the bathroom, and when Mom turns on the faucet, it becomes a roaring waterfall. Mom slip-slides the child into the tub and there is now a soft-scented sea filled with monsters (in the form of a yellow rubber ducky) and glistening soap bubbles, the water smacking the distant shore (or bathroom floor). Take a deep dive, read your floating book, and watch the ocean swirl away after Mom pulls the plug. Then off to bed.

Author Nikki Grimes and illustrator Elizabeth Zunon have created another sweet picture book that will remind readers of their earlier work, Bedtime for Sweet Creatures. The charming illustrations in fun, bright colors, mostly cartoon-like with realistic faces, are quite memorable, and seem like the right background for Grimes’s imaginative, lyrical text. This is perfect to settle youngsters down for bed and has “read it again” written all over it.