Back to School: Ready for School, Murphy? by Brendan Murphy

Murphy is not (ready for school, that is).

He's not dressed, and he's got a serious, cowlicky case of bed-head. And that's not all he's got.

"MAYBE I SHOULD STAY HOME FROM SCHOOL TODAY.

I FEEL LIKE I'VE GOT ANTS IN MY PANTS
AND BUTTERFLIES IN MY STOMACH."

Murphy suggests that maybe he's got some kind of bug that's going around.

His dad thinks he might be right. Hmm... could be the heebie jeebies? Or goose bumps? Maybe he needs to visit the doctor for a shot. Murphy hopes not.

Or then, again, it could be a computer virus. His pixels do look a bit peaked.

That thought makes Murphy's bristly hair stand straight up.

Dad offers to get dressed and grab the car keys for a trip to the doc or the geek shop, whichever. Then he adds the zinger.

"BUT, MURPHY--

"IT'S SATURDAY."

It's an instant cure for the malingering Murphy, in Brendan Murphy's Ready for School, Murphy? (Hyperion Books, 2015). The I-forgot-it-was-Saturday storyline may be a bit familiar, but author-illustrator Brendan Murphy has one sure-fire sight gag left, as little Murph strips off his pajamas and heads for the great outdoors--clad only in his whitie tighties! Sure, it's a cheap laugh for the primary set, but Brendan Murphy's little malinger is classic, created as he is from geometric shapes and bright acrylic colors that pop off the page, and big round eyes that react to his savvy dad's curative suggestions. A fun book for the back-to-school blues.