Bedtime Stories

Traditionally, my husband is the one to read bedtime stories with the kids. It's his time, after being at work all day, to sit and commune with his children. I'm usually cleaning the post dinner disaster in the kitchen or folding the 500th load of laundry. Since I work at the library, I'm always the one picking out the picture books, but very rarely do I ever read them. Occasionally he will report back with, "that was a really good one" or "don't ever get that one again."

Tonight, however, he was at church meetings, so I was treated to the funniest book ever!

I Always Always Get My Way by Thad Krasnesky

From School Library Journal
PreS—Three-year-old Emmy wreaks havoc on her entire household. From spilling orange juice on Daddy at breakfast, to adorning her brother's pet iguana in a bathing suit and letting the bathtub overflow, she's got curiosity and mayhem covered. Krasnesky tells the story with flowing rhyme that accommodates the humor of the plot and heightens Parkins's comical cartoon illustrations. "I tiptoed into Tommy's room/and found a way to use the broom/to get the lizard off the shelf,/entirely all by myself." As the star of this story gets into different sticky situations, she continually responds with the adage that "I'm only three," so not much should be expected of her. While her mother seems to respond to the little devil's helpless plea, it isn't long before things snowball and Emmy finds herself in a serious time-out.—Adrienne Wilson, Edith Wheeler Memorial Library, Monroe, CT

I think why this hit my funny bone is -- we have our very own "Emmy!" Emmy, in our case, is our youngest son. How often do I find myself saying EXACTLY the same things to my older kids as the mother in this picture book does to hers -- often with the refrain, "he is only THREE!" (Now recently turned 4, but somehow the excuse still spews out of my mouth.)

The illustrations are equally delightful. A perfect tickler before bedtime.