Creak! Said the Bed

March 22, 2010
Silly and slight, this story of an inadvertent and ultimately inadequate family bed is more notable for Dunnick's (The Louds Move In!
) buoyant gouache artwork than Root's (Toot Toot Zoom!
) text, which never quite finds its rhythmic footing. “One dark night in the middle of the night,” Mom and Dad are snoozing away when, one by one, the kids come in: Evie is scared, Ivy is cold, Mo is spooked, and Fred—the family dog—has an aversion to thunder. There aren't a lot of comic surprises: Mom is welcoming and Dad remains out cold (supplying snores, “snurkle,” and other nighttime noises), as the kids eke out unlikely spaces to sleep—on top of their parents' heads and under the pillows. Despite a massive crack
that busts the bed after Fred's arrival, peace is achieved, though the last spread hints that it may be short-lived. Dunnick's big-headed, beady-eyed, and slightly clueless cast are deeply appealing: even very young readers should appreciate the humor in a family's single-minded pursuit of some zzzs. Ages 4–8.