Sometimes You Barf

There’s nothing dignified or pleasant about vomiting, whether you’re the one doing it or simply in the area when it’s going on. For kids, the experience can be particularly upsetting, especially if one gets sick at school. Carlson (Zip It!) clearly knows all of this well, and she writes with empathy, reassurance, and a “them’s the breaks, kid” brand of humor as she follows a girl’s bout with the flu. “When that flu bug finally picks you... at first you really try not to barf...” she writes, as a giant green germ excitedly watches the girl’s face go deep green. “But it’s no use. You will barf. With any luck you will barf on your math test.” (Not only does Carlson show the girl doing just that, she plops her text on top of the torrent of puke pouring from the girl’s mouth.) But sickness is fleeting, Carlson explains, and her matter-of-fact writing and visual demonstrations that everything from aardvarks to leprechauns throw up, too, are a kind of medicine in themselves. Ages 5–8. Agent: Susan Cohen, Writers House. (Oct.)