The little boy who lived down the drain

When Sally mishears her mother singing to her little brother, she thinks the last line of Baa, Baa, Black Sheep says, one for the little boy who lives down the drain. Fascinated, each time she takes a bath, Sally gets as close to the tap as she can, trying to talk to that tiny solitary person she imagines sitting among the water pipes. Although Sally lives with her parents and siblings, she feels lonely and frustrated by her family's lack of attention. She pours out her feelings to the mysterious little boy, but gets no answer. Collage and mixed-media illustrations add an important dimension of meaning to the text, emphasizing both the realistic and fantasy aspects of the story. One day, hearing the echo of her own words, Sally thinks the boy tells her to try something different, a message that has great impact on Sally's behavior. The shifting visual perspective adds drama to the images and underscores Sally's changing thoughts about herself and her family. A clever twist ending is sure to delight readers.--Whitehurst, Lucinda Copyright 2017 Booklist

A misheard nursery rhyme gives rise to an imaginary friend who helps a little girl overcome loneliness.Sally, whom watercolor-and-pencil illustrations depict as a white girl with light skin and sandy-brown hair, thinks her mother ends the "Baa Baa Black Sheep" rhyme she sings to her baby brother with a line about "the little boy / Who lives down the DRAIN." This inspires her to try to talk with the unseen, pipe-dwelling boy when taking a bath. She voices feelings of sadness and isolation about being too little to join her big sisters in their play, as well as jealousy for her busy parents' attention. Although she's comforted by this imagined audience, she wishes she could hear the little boy respond. "I know you're probably trying, but you need to try something different!" she cries, and the resulting echo inspires her to try something different to change the dynamic with her family. Her efforts ultimately meet with success, not only because her family members respond positively, but because her perspective changes as she realizes, for example, "that much like her favourite toys, she had to share her parents, too." A twist ending returns readers to the nursery rhyme that opened the story, and this time Sally hears about "the little boy who lives down the LANE," whom she imagines anew. A playful spin on the new-baby theme. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.