Time to Go, Sid!

The routine requests behind getting out the door and to a park become opportunities for a youth to assert independence in this frolicsome picture book about day-to-day undertakings. When it’s time to get dressed, the yellow speech bubbles that seem to represent an unseen caretaker’s perspective ask, “Do you need help?” Young Sid, portrayed with pale skin, firmly declines, and digitally colored, crisp pencil and charcoal drawings show the child donning a tutu, wings, a spiky reptile tail, and, as a face mask, a pair of underpants. Further delays and fanciful interpretations of caretaker requests ensue around breakfast, teeth-brushing, and more, but a departure finally seems possible (“HURRAH! We’re ready. Almost at the door. Nothing can stop us now”) until Sid has yet another flight of fancy, conjuring the family’s marmalade cat as a friendly, flying orange dragon. While expressing tongue-in-cheek sympathy to the plights of children and adults faced with leaving the house, Greenberg (Power Up) reflects back to readers their own brilliance around claiming free will—not by saying no to everyday asks, but by saying yes to creative possibilities. Ages 4–8. (Jan.)