You Can Count on Octopus! Thank You, Octopus by Darren Farrell

BEDTIME, AHOY!

AWWWW!

A boy and his babysitter begin the bedtime routine, with the usual resistance.

But when the bedroom is in a tubby little tugboat and the sitter is a red octopus, you can be pretty sure this is not your ordinary every-evening bedtime book.

Octopus tries to lead the boy toward bed by offering a nice, warm bath first.

But the tub is filled with nice, warm... egg salad!

Er...

GROSS!

NO THANKS, OCTOPUS!

Octopus is helpful. He offers to dry the boy off with the breeze from his tuba.

Politely, the boy declines. Sheesh!

Octopus suggests the boy put on some pajamas. But... Octopus tosses them on top of the Statue of Liberty.

Things only get goofier, as Octopus clearly tries to make a game out of getting ready for bed. He cranks up the amp, tunes up his guitar, and offers a rock-and-roll lullaby. The boy politely demurs.

Octopus blithely assures his charge that monsters under the bed will be NO problem.

He's put all of them in the closet! He reaches for the closet door to prove it.

"NO THANKS, OCTOPUS!!"

But when it's time for a good-night hug, the boy finds a way (bear-ly) to turn the tables on his silly sitter, in Darren Farrell's inventive little bedtime story, Thank You, Octopus (Dial Book, 2014).  Using a picturesque backdrop of the New York City harbor, Farrell sets his plush-toylike characters in chubby, blocked flat colors, adding to the quirky tone of this awesomely absurd sleepy time tale. Super-giggle fare to take time-for-bed resistors under the sheets with a smile on their faces! Kirkus Reviews says, "A maritime—and bedtime—delight."