Don't Forget to Come Back!
by Robie H. Harris
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robie H. HarrisIllustrator: Harry Bliss
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-01-26
ISBN: 0763617822
Number of pages: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Book Reviews of Don't Forget to Come Back!
Book Review: If ever I would leave you...
Summary: 5 Stars
What makes a good picture book? Well, in my humble opinion, a good picture book is the kind where you read through it, enjoy it, then glance at the copyright page and shriek with befuddlement when you realize that the original text was written waaaay way back in 1978. The year of this reviewer's humble birth. This fact is so amazingly shocking because "Don't Forget to Come Back" is a book that feels ultra-hip on top of being ultra-modern. Chalk that feeling up to the amazing illustrations by preeminent illustrator Harry Bliss. Choosing to help kids cut through the fears that overtake them when their parents go out for a night, this book is an excellent resource for any parent with a particularly clingy young `un on a Saturday night.
Our young protagonist informs us right off the bat that she is aware that her father and mother are going out for the night. Her reaction? "I didn't like that one bit!". As a result she tries every trick in her bag to keep her parents in the home. She points out that since she is not a baby she does not need a "baby" sitter. When that doesn't work she tries a different tactic. If the parents leave a thunderstorm will blow the house down, she'll throw up, and she'll be eaten by a moose (not necessarily in that order). She then attempts to come along, persuade just one parent to stay, threaten unending not-niceness, run away from home via the closet, etc. Of course, she likes her babysitter (which helps) and so she admonishes her parents with the title phrase, "Don't forget to come back!". In the morning, when she wakes, there they are in bed safe and sound. And not a single moose ate her either.
When I first read this book glancingly (is that a word?) I wasn't particularly impressed. Something about the parents' hoity-toity digs kinda threw me for a mild loop. On a closer rereading, however, I was charmed. Throughout the heroine's various cajoleries and dire warnings the parents have the distinct look of people who've heard it all before. They're not disinterested, necessarily. Just well-aware of the battle that takes place every time they want to go out for a night. Illustrator Harry Bliss gives them patient albeit dressing-for-the-night attitudes towards their only child. And I loved the babysitter. She's a great companion to the kid, acting as silly or semi-serious as called for. The best image in the whole book is that of the girl asleep in her bed wearing a clown face while the sitter, in a matching clown face, reads to her from a monster book sporting Lon Chaney's "Phantom" mug. You have to see it yourself to get the full flavor.
Writer Robie H. Harris is one of those speakers who presents on topics like, "Writing About the Powerful Feelings and Real Concerns of Young Children". I don't know if she was aware of the form her book would take when she originally wrote it in 1978. In a novel twist, the book is rife with speech bubbles. This gives it a particularly contemporary air and makes it a very visually interesting piece. It's not a graphic novel for kids or anything. Just an original presentation of material that could have been rather dull and isn't.
Many many children freak out over the idea that their parents won't be coming back from their nighttime rendezvous. And many many picture books have broken their backs trying to cash in on reassuring these kids' fears. "Don't Forget to Come Back" does it in such a way that it's amusing to both children and adults alike. For a wry picture book that knows just how much slack to give kids (without sacrificing their point of view) this little number is an ideal choice. Consider it a boon to party-hardy parents everywhere.
Summary of Don't Forget to Come Back!
With warmth, empathy, and a healthy dose of hilarity, Robie H. Harris and Harry Bliss capture the many emotions children feel when parents go out?and a babysitter comes in!Guess what? The babysitter is coming!
That means:
1. Mommy and Daddy are going out
2. the feisty heroine of this book is not going out . . .
3. and she doesn?t like that one bit!
Parents, kids, and babysitters alike will relate to?and laugh at?this all-too-familiar tale, wisely and wittily penned by an expert in child development and brought wickedly to life with detailed illustrations by a noted New Yorker cartoonist.
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