PETEY'S BEDTIME STORY

Obstreperous Petey is indulged with a full bedtime ritual: splashy bath, all-out chase, book from each parent, monster check; last comes the "baby story," the already-familiar tale of his own birth ("One night Mommy painted her toenails so they would look pretty when she met the baby..."), with Petey's own embellishments (daddy "drove off in the dark a hundred miles an hour," but after a policeman stops him he's more cautious—he doesn't want to miss football on TV). The actual birth is omitted; Petey arrives, fully clothed, in a flash of what looks like fireworks, to an admiring hospital crowd—and, back in the present, his exhausted parents are asleep in his room, so Petey helps himself to cookies and snuggles into their bed, where he falls asleep amid the crumbs. A funny story that can easily be elaborated on by those who want to tell their children more; Small's energetic, cartoony art is a perfect match for Cleary's witty prose. (Picture book. 5-8)