The Wrong Side of the Bed

In this madcap riff on the having-a-bad-day theme, a girl named Lucy awakens with tangled hair, must snuggle with the porcupine that has shown up in her bed, can locate only one slipper and no matching socks (meanwhile, an octopus in her room unearths eight identical argyles), and a bear makes a stain worse by licking the syrup Lucy has spilled on herself. “Evidently, it was a sticky stain, mismatched socks, very prickly, one bunny slipper sort of day,” writes Bakos (May God Bless You with an Angel). Ensuing mishaps add animals and entries to the tally of how badly Lucy’s day is going. While Lucy’s scowl persists, Raff’s (Zora’s Zucchini) mixed-media art, muted only in its pastel palette, shows her oblivious, unruly companions merrily creating mayhem. Lucy’s day ends as unpleasantly as it started, but when morning arrives, Bakos hints that flexibility can help conquer a bad day—when life gives you one slipper, she suggests, maybe reach for your galoshes instead. Ages 3–5. [em]Author’s agent: Melissa Sarver White, Folio Literary Management. Illustrator’s agent: Marcia Wernick, Wernick & Pratt Agency. (Mar.) [/em]