Book Review: On My Way to the Bath by Sarah Maizes, illustrated by Michael Paraskevas

Book: On My Way to the Bath
Author: Sarah Maizes
Illustrator: Michael Paraskevas
Published: 2012
Source: Local Library

Bathtime is no fun. Livi has so many better things to do than to take a bath. Why, she has to be a snake, and scare her little brother! She has to put on a show to her sister’s music! She has to harnass her hamster minions and plot to take over the world! But mom is firm. It is bathtime, and a bath must be taken. But will Livi ever get to the tub?

We’ve all been there, and many of us on both sides of the equation. Livi allows herself to be distracted as much as possible while avoiding the inevitable. Her mother, seen almost entirely as an exasperated speech bubble from off-page, keeps reminding her of the task at hand. Livi’s imagination is the star of the show, conjuring up wild and funny scenarios that spill all over the page in a colorful, witty mix of reality and fantasy. (One thing did tickle me enormously, and that’s in the illustration of the musical sister: her boom box features an iPod dock. Welcome to the future.)

This imaginative kid (and her progressively less patient mother) will bring on gales of laughter and nods of familiarity.