Wingin' It! Daddy's Zigzagging Bedtime Story by Alan L. Stomen

It's bedtime and the natives are restless.

Dad's all psyched up get the kids to bed at a decent hour, and since this is not his first rodeo, Dad knows that a crucial element in the mix is the just right bedtime story to get the kids quiet and still long enough for nature to take its course.

But the kids aren't cooperating. No matter what storybook classic he suggests, he gets turned down.

DAD HAS A SIMPLE SOLUTION. "I'LL PICK THE BOOK!"

The boy and girl look dubious, but Dad begins confidently....

"ONCE UPON A TIME..."

"BO-RING!" SAYS JAKE.

"HEARD IT!" SAYS JENNY. "ABOUT TWO MILLION TIMES."

Dad tries a different story line. "Once in a galaxy far, far...."

"OLD AS A DINOSAUR EGG," THE KIDS SIGH.

Dad's done with playing Marian the Librarian.

If it's original they want, it's original they're going to get.

His tall tale has some, er. original elements that soon have Jake and Jenny's attention. There's a princess, yes, but one whose cupcake creations with her favorite unicorn are interrupted by the Evil Space Aliens of Doom led by Zorgon the Fire-Burper. Laser swords, dead spider eyeballs, and at least one KA-BOOM! figure in the action, as the Aliens of Doom meet their match and depart the galaxy at warp speed, just in time for...

Lights out.... In his jolly sequel to his Daddies Do It Different, Alan Lawrence Sitomer's Daddy's Zigzagging Bedtime Story (Hyperion Books, 2015) shows the way Jake and Jenny's daddy does it differently when it comes to improvisational bedtime stories. There's something to please both boys and girls in this tall-tale nighty-nighty adventure. Again, artist Abby Carter adds her light touch with pastel watercolor wash and soft line to heighten the wild fantasy Daddy imagines for his youngsters, ending with a wish that the super Ninja Puppy will help them sleep tight ever after.