CARRY ME!

A youngster always wants to be carried but realizes that sometimes his mom gets tired, too.

Wilbur, a mouselike creature with a fluffball tail, is the apple of his mother’s eye. They cuddle together all the time. But as Wilbur grows bigger and stronger (he’s capable of executing “BIG jumps” in the park, and he adores doing “the wiggle-waggle” and “the boogie-woogie”), he still refuses to walk. In true youngster logic fashion, he declares: “But my stroller will miss me and get sad” and “Actually, my shoes get all grumpy-pumpy when I walk.” But one day, when he accidentally drops his plush rabbit and hops out of the stroller to get it, he comes back to find Mommy sitting in the stroller! Poor Mommy needs a break, too. Wilbur decides to take care of her for a change and pushes her up the hill (with some help from his friends). Bright, cheery illustrations feature many parent/child relationships of all species (a tiny family of snails who wear hats on their shells in the winter are especially charming). Personified objects (such as a smiling moon or Wilbur’s frowning legs saying, “Not today, thank you”) add to the delight. Wilbur appears to be part of a single-parent household.

An ode to exhausted mamas everywhere.