All the Things You Are: Silly Wonderful You by Sherri Duskey Rinker

I NEVER IMAGINED, BEFORE YOU CAME ALONG...

THAT OUR HOUSE COULD GET THIS MESSY... AND

LOUD!

THAT YOU COULD BE SO JUMPY

OR SOMETIMES GRUMPY..

OR STINKY (PHEW!)

Life with a toddler (or two) is, well, more than you dreamed it could be, in every way, in Sherri Duskey Rinker's latest, Silly Wonderful You (Balzer and Bray, 2016). Maybe somewhere, in another universe far far away, there is a toddler who stays clean and sweet and calm most of the time, but Rinker's tornado of a tot takes her mom through a very busy day. A vase crashes, bathwater splashes, grime and slime ensue, and when Mom slumps down over a cup of coffee that she hopes will revive her energy, she finds the car keys at the bottom of the mug.

Such moments cause a mom (or dad) to ponder deep thoughts, like how can something like million stuffed animals appear in one tot's room? How does glitter proliferate in every crevice in the house? Why does the morning always come so early and bedtime always come later than you hoped? How can chaos seem to take over a once orderly house?

How can you love one little person so ... ginormously?

The talented Rinker, who gave tot lit the best-selling Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site and Steam Train, Dream Train, inspired bedtime stories that have hopefully hastened toddlers to sleep for many a weary mother and father, has one here for the parents, and her illustrator, Patrick McDonnell, is an inspired choice. McDonnell is a master of this sort of reflective look at childhood and parenthood, with a style that is piquant and personal, and with characters that always charm. McDonnell's cover, with a child in pick-me-up pose, tells it all--that life with a little one brings a harried mind and a heart full of emotion, as every loving parent knows.