Sniffles Time: What a Cold Needs by Barbara Bottner

WHAT DOES A COLD NEED?

It needs Mom's cool hand on the forehead, your own box of tissues, and some well-worn pajamas...

It also needs a window open to the spring sound of birds singing, cozy socks and chicken soup made by Grandma, Granddad's kiss and some silly jokes from Daddy.

A cold definitely needs...

... a good book.. and if you're lucky, Grandpa strumming his guitar...

A cold needs a radio softly playing, a puppy snoozing on your bed, and...

... a long, deep afternoon nap.

Colds need someone to feel sorry for you and someone to tell you it'll go away soon.

What a cold needs is...

... love and ... a little time.

In a soothing book for youngsters, noted author Barbara Bottner's What a Cold Needs (Neal Porter/Holiday House Books, 2019) evokes the comforting care of a kind family during the all-too-common colds of childhood.

Artist Chris Sheban provides the gently charming illustrations done in the soft textures of smudged pencil and the pastel hues of the oft-washed pajamas worn by a girl, one whose whose red nose tells the tale of a short illness. Inevitably, that red nose fades to be replaced by the ruddy cheeks of a no-longer ailing girl--who can now play outside and come back in to hug her dad, who is now wearing the pajamas and red nose. Kids will love the humor of this book, and grown-ups will feel a touch of nostalgia for those days when they got new crayons and got to take their sick days in bed.

This book is a literary get-well card for sick kids, done, as Kirkus Reviews put it, with "with lyricism and whimsy."

Sick Day: The Day Snuffy Had the Sniffles (Sesame Street) by Linda Lee Maiifair

Oscar the Grouch popped out of his can just in time to see big Bird skipping down Sesame Street.

"Go away, Bird! It's time to collect the trash. I'm too busy to talk to you!"

Why?

But Big Bird is on a mission to see Snuffy, who's sniffly and needs some cheering up. When Cookie Monster shows up, he explains that he's waiting for Oscar's present for Snuffy.

What?

Then Bert passes by and says he has just the thing for Old Snuffy and tells Bird to wait right there.

How long?

"At this rate I'll never get to see Snuffy," Big Bird frets.

But soon Cookie Monster appears with a slightly dirty cookie, and Oscar offers something green and vaguely lumpy. Old Bear comes bringing his heirloom family cure for the common cold--sardine and sauerkraut soup! for Snuffy. BLEECH! Betty Lou from the library sends some books and The Count counts up all the things Big Bird has to carry and adds a box of tissues. And then Gladys the Cow offers a pint of ice cream that's already melting! Yikes!

Now Big Bird has to hustle to make it to Snuffy's house, in Sesame Street: The Day Snuffy Had the Sniffles with Full-Color Poster Inside (Storybook Classics) (Random House, 2019). But it's the thought that counts, and Snuffy is happy to see Big Bird and know his friends care! Share this sniffles story with Barbara Bottner's 2019 What a Cold Needs (read review here).