Review by Booklist Review
If ever there were a trumped-up charge against bedtime, this search-and-find book, thinly disguised as a story, would be it. The redheaded narrator presents the case that during the day there is a delightful plethora of things to do; just counting sheep at bedtime is too boring. At breakfast there's cereal or toast; at bath time, it's sudsing up with shampoo or creating a fake beard from shaving cream; and getting dressed involves choosing among many, many options. Hundreds (if not a thousand billion) of little illustrations of items suitable to each activity are spread across each double-page spread. Readers are invited to find an item or items among the many pictured (i.e., a cereal box with other breakfast items, six rubber ducks in the bathroom), and a solutions key to each is included at the end. Each busy, cluttered page offers a fascinating array of unique, small-to-minuscule items, designed for hours of enjoyment and conducive to creating additional I-spy games and perhaps also helpful in easing little ones into bed.--Enos, Randall Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A redheaded girl informs readers that she doesn't like going to sleep: "Of course, you are wondering, why not? Well, let me tell you, it's a matter of choice!" She then takes readers through various everyday scenes (breakfast, bath time, etc.) as they are asked to locate items hidden in pages filled with delicately drawn clothing, vegetables, sea creatures, and more. The bedtime-hating frame gets a little lost itself, and the girl's monologue takes some odd turns ("I wonder if all this choice is an eternal delight or an infernal torment," she remarks, confounded by the options at a bakery), but Montel's elegant images are a pleasure to pore over. Ages 4-7. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Young fans of I Spy and Where's Waldo? will find plenty to enjoy in this seek-and-find picture book import. A white, red-haired, unnamed, and agender child takes readers through the day, extolling all the wonderful choices that life presents. At breakfast, the child enjoys choosing between "butter[ing] a mountain of toast" or "drowning an avalanche of breakfast cereal in milk." Surrounding the white space containing the text are a blizzard of carefully drawn images of foods and kitchen items from which audiences are asked to pick out the smaller version of the box of breakfast cereal depicted with the child. Each spread repeats this pattern with some variation in degree of difficulty. The number of items to locate changes, and audiences don't always get an example image to help them. The child's day finally ends with the lamentation that bedtime is simply the worst because there is no choice-it's just counting sheep! Children are then encouraged to count as many of the sheep as they can, an open-ended challenge that will suit a wide range of abilities. Clément's and Montel's use of complex vocabulary and abstract concepts elevate the slight narrative-the market is "a heavenly place," and at the bakery, our young protagonist ponders whether "all this choice is an eternal delight or an infernal torment." The tiny detailed objects fill up each page and offer plenty of interest for repeat reads. An answer key is included in the back, but readers might prefer to create their own challenges after the required items have been located. VERDICT A charming puzzle book sure to please young readers with a wide range of finding abilities.-Chelsea Couillard-Smith, Hennepin County Library, MN © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A child's world is brimming with choicesuntil it comes to bedtime.The title seems hardly an exaggeration, as all but a small corner of each spread is jam-crammed full of tiny, nonrepeating images of foodstuffs and other (to use the French original's term) "trucs" that a young, white narrator encounters while going from breakfast to dinner. Viewers willing to follow along will be confronted with challenges to pick out from the teeming pages six rubber ducks, a nibbled carrot, a frog mask, and like items. Perhaps even more compelling is the temptation to linger over each extravagant outpouring of tiny but finely drawn, individually distinct flora, fauna (the day's round includes a visit to an aquarium), enticing toys, mouthwatering pastries, items of clothing, and more. Then, instead of options, bedtime brings only a gazillion all-too-similar sheep to count: "WHERE'S THE FUN IN THAT?" the narrator grumpily concludes. Many will agree, though an earlier "I wonder if all this choice is an eternal delight or an infernal torment" may prompt more-reflective sorts to wonder the same. Happily, to ease any incipient frustration, there is a visual key (sans a total for those sheep, though) at the end. A rare display of artistic invention, with rewards aplenty for close viewing. (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
