That’s Not Fair

A girl simmering with resentment corners her father with a list of complaints in this work from Yoshitake (I Can Open It for You), who pictures the father’s inventive answers in customarily compact line drawings. “How come adults get to stay up very late, but kids have to go to sleep early?” the child demands. “I can’t say it very loudly,” the father replies, but “at night, in preparation for Christmas, Santa Claus’s investigators come and check on whether kids are going to sleep early.” In the accompanying illustration, three mustachioed elves arrive at the door as the child snoozes. A string of humorous fantasies follows: if the child doesn’t take a bath when the parent says it’s time, the Bath Monsters will use all the hot water; parents blame the older child for a younger sibling’s misdeeds because “royalty really likes when big kids protect their younger siblings.” (A vignette shows a passing queen on a horse: “This girl is great! Let’s invite her to the castle!”) Though the story lacks the attention to the child’s own insight that distinguishes Yoshitake’s best work, sweetly comic line drawings add verve and warmth to the father’s takes. Characters read as East Asian. Ages 5–8. (Aug.)