SMITHY AND ME

A rambunctious but well-meaning child and dog make mess after mess.

As the evening unfolds, the young narrator provides deadpan comments focused on the little terrier’s likes and dislikes (“Smithy doesn’t like to share, but he loves tug of war because…he always wins”), while the illustrations depict the unspoken consequences of their activities (after the pair playfully fight over a toy, they knock over a vase and a table). Smithy joins the child in getting ready for bed, but he fears ghosts and the dark (a bedclothes tussle generates a pillow-feather storm). Each time the two get into mischief, the protagonist’s preternaturally patient, busy mother hears suspicious sounds from the next room and calls, “What’s going on in there?” The narrator’s answer is always a meek “Nothing.” When Mom sees the chaos, her saintly response is merely a quiet “Oh dear” or “Oh my” and a promise to tidy up. The roomful of feathers proves the last straw, however: Mom is just “too tired tonight” either to clean up or to read the usual story. But as the light flicks off, the child calls her back for a warm wordless hug. In the final spread, narrator and dog enjoy a story while Mom curls up alongside them, asleep. This extended joke will amuse and warm the heart; overworked parents will see themselves in exhausted Mom. Zoells' understated prose is accompanied by clear, clever, and delicately colored fine-line drawings depicting the humans as brown-skinned.

A humorous, all-too-familiar portrayal of bedtime hijinks.