JUST ONE MORE

More character sketch than story, Rolli’s debut picture book introduces a little girl who always wants “just one more.”

Starting with her request for “just one more minute” of sleep when woken, blonde, pink-cheeked moppet Ruby asks for several other things without coming across as spoiled or demanding. This is due to her sweet depiction in Rolli’s digitally enhanced oil paintings that show her smiling and enjoying hair thingies, rides on a mechanical horse and dropping pennies in a fountain to make wishes. She does end up learning an overt lesson when her request for “just one more scoop” of ice cream causes her towering cone to topple over. Then she makes do with “just one toy in the tub” (albeit a gargantuan rubber duck that looks more like a pool toy) and “just one book before bed” (a huge volume entitled The World’s Complete Book of Fairy Tales). Judging by the lipstick marks all over her face, however, her request for multiple bedtime kisses is indulged.

A sweet, if simple, picture-book character sketch.