Why I Will Never Ever Ever Ever Have Enough Time to Read This Book

There's more to this clever book than initially meets the eye. A busy girl struggles from sun-up to sundown to squirrel away time to read, but something always seems to get in the way--a shower (""Careful! Don't get the book wet!""), a breakfast of cereal (""Who left this book in the fridge?""), etc. Sure enough, by nightfall she still hasn't managed to finish her book. Charlip's (Sleepytime Rhyme) diverting tale strikes just the right bemused note with its step by step, don't-stop-to-take-a-breath descriptions of mundane activities. Hand-lettered text befits the first-person rendition, while Muth's (Gershon's Monster, reviewed in Children's Religion Forecasts, Aug. 28) witty watercolors amplify and extend the humor inherent in each deadpan passage. He gives the tale additional punch by varying the pace from full-page scenes to frame-by-frame snapshots and by casting the main characters as an intriguingly multicultural extended family. Readers will also enjoy the recurring visual pun as they spy the very same book they're reading in the hand of the girl, and the same page they're looking at almost every time she manages to sneak a peek at it. Ages 6-up. (Sept.)