Tired Town

As the sun sets on Manhattan-esque Tired Town, this antic picture book’s collaborators (Now Everybody Really Hates Me) portray the city’s thoroughly exhausted residents: “The spaghetti is so drained, it can’t stand up straight. The eggs are so fried, they can’t keep their yolks open,” Marx writes. But sleep is a no-go for pale-skinned Nellie Bee Nightly, who sports wide-open eyes and a bright cloud of red hair. “I went to sleep LAST night,” she tells her pleading parents, and then devises a long list of pre-bed to-do’s . In Chast’s comically anxious watercolors, which fairly vibrate with activity, the child persuades doll Naked Nancy to don pj’s, gives goldfish Cheesy a makeover, and creates a walkway from her bed to the bathroom. As the child finally lies down (“I’m not sleeping... I’m pretending to be a log”), the bedroom lamp calls a halt to the goings-on, turning itself off with a “KLIK” as Nellie, at last, drifts off. The recalcitrant sleeper is a mainstay of picture books, but this silly soporific by two of contemporary humor’s best brings real verve to the event. Ages 3–6. Author’s agent: Esther Newberg, ICM Partners. Illustrator’s agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency. (Oct.)