Brand-New Beginning: A New Day by Brad Meltzer

The Week has an employee problem. Sunday is on strike! The quiet girl who has long held the job of being Sunday has quit! The other days of the Week are distraught! How can you begin the week (or end it, depending on your point of view) without a Sunday? To be a proper week there must be seven days on deck at all times. But Sunday has submitted an official resignation. She complains that she is not being properly appreciated for the conscientious way she has done her job.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH WORK IT TAKES TO GIVE THE WORLD A BEAUTIFUL, FREE DAY... TO PLAY, TO PRAY, TO SLEEP AWAY... TO EAT RASPBERRY SORBET?"

Everyone else gets their free day and nobody cares if she's doing okay!

THE OTHERS ARE AGHAST!

The other Days put up HELP WANTED posters right away!

WANTED!

NEW DAY!

Must Be Tranquil!

The applicants have some unusual suggestions to replace the ordinary old Sunday: BUNDAY, FUNDAY, DOGDAY (EVERYONE gets a puppy!), CATURDAY (for those who prefer cats), WORSTVICE-PRESIDENTDAY (suggested by Elbridge Gerry), and (Yikes!) BIGBURPDAY!

Think it can't get worse? How about KNIGHTSWHOSWORDSAREHERRINGSDAY? Or MYDOGSMELLSLIKECORNCHIPSDAY!

And then a wee girl appears with a tiny potted plant she's grown for Sunday!

"I GREW THIS ONE FOR YOU... TO SAY THANKS!" SHE LISPS.

And a little appreciation is the big game-changer, in Brad Meltzer's just published A New Day (Dial Books, 2021). With the quirky and vivid over-the-top illustrations of award-winning artist Dan Santat to keep the inspired absurdity going, this new one by the team of Meltzer and Santat looks like a hit. For preschoolers just learning the days of the week to sophisticated primary graders who can't get enough of this pair's clever wackiness, this one succeeds in making the point that all of us need to know that we are appreciated!

"It’s a lovely and apt way to tie a bow on all the preceding silliness, with enough room left over to end on a cat joke!" says Publisher's Weekly.

By the way, Dan Santat is the author-illustration of the Caldecott Award winner, The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend (Read my review here.