Why Do I Have to Make My Bed? Or, A History of Messy Rooms

Why is it that, throughout the ages, kids' chores are never considered complete unless they also make their beds? Bradford, a children's playwright making his book debut, and van der Sterre (Feivel's Flying Horses) have compiled a terrific people's history, moving backward in time with generation after generation of child asking the titular question. "Me already clean cave!" says a prehistoric boy to his harried, leopard-skin clad mother. "Me hunt mammoth! Me dust stalagmites. Me make fire! Why me have to make bed? It just get messed up again!" But centuries of pleading have clearly done no good, because the irrefutable reply is always the same: "Because I said so." While playing up the timelessness and universality of the human condition (at least as far as chores are concerned), the text and pictures underscore the evolving demands and trappings of domestic life. With its clever premise, keenly observed visual comedy, and easygoing pedagogy (an excellent afterword draws more directly on scholarship), this book deserves a place on the shelves next to the Magic School Bus series. Ages 4–7. (Feb.)