Wake Me Up in 20 Coconuts!

In her quirky, inventive style, Keller (Potato Pants!) delivers another illuminating tale via a carefully orchestrated jumble of colors, images, and talk bubbles. When the personage in apartment 2B, a pink, beet-shaped character, asks the neighbor in 2C, a blue rectangular vertical, to wake her up in “20 coconuts,” 2C quickly responds “Abso-COCONUT-ly, 2B!” But building know-it-all 2C has no idea what 2B’s request means, and doesn’t want to admit being clueless. 2C’s anxiety spirals from there, as he seeks the answer without showing his ignorance—plucking the chicken and lost sock that are clogging his ear, and heading to Wally’s Wash Works for a brain cleaning. Just when the meltdown reaches a crescendo, visually depicted in a large font as neighbors watch in alarm, 2B awakes right on (coconut) time. When 2C works up the courage to confess his unfamiliarity, he’s rewarded with kind support—a denouement that should prove reassuring to readers with similar apprehensions. Quirky asides abound from end to end of this visually jam-packed picture book, and a full-page close-up of 2C’s perplexed face is not soon forgotten. An endnote from “Some Brains” offers advice for addressing know-it-all-itis. Ages 4–8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Sept.)