Cyd Moore - Books - What do Parents Do?

WHAT DO PARENTS DO?
(WHEN YOUR NOT HOME)
By Jeanie Franz Ransom
Illustrated by Cyd Moore
Peachtree Publishers March (2007)

http://www.peachtree-online.com

The tables are turned and the grown-ups have all the fun in this wickedly silly story of parental mayhem.

Two children set off to spend the night at their grandparents'. Throughout the course of the day, the young boy's imagination runs wild as he imagines what his parents are doing while he's away. Jumping on beds, he thinks, or sledding down the stairs on pillows. Watching hours and hours of television, playing ball in the house, dressing up the dog, eating junk food, playing video games, and in general making one VERY BIG mess!

The next morning when the kids come home the house looks tidy. "It was pretty quiet," says Dad... but was it? Mom is hiding something behind her back. And those socks hanging from the ceiling fan... they weren't there yesterday.

Cyd Moore's antic illustrations contrast the wild adventures at home with the more wholesome fun at their grandparents' house. Jeanie Ransom's clever tale will keep young readers laughing long after the story has ended.

From Book List

What, indeed? According to the young narrator, when the kids aren't home, the parents jump on the bed, watch TV shows "they've seen a bazillion times," and dress up the dog. The main illustrations feature two exuberant adults making a mess with toys, food, and clothes, while smaller pictures show the narrator and his little sister having fun at their grandparents' house. Young listeners may be familiar with the narrator's reactions to parental misbehavior: "They've probably ruined their appetites." "They better hope those Kool-Aid stains come out!" Most fun, though, are the household mysteries that are explained: a game in which socks are tossed on the ceiling fan engenders the comment, "No wonder we can never find two socks that match!" Moore's illustrations, which bring to mind Marc Brown's Arthur books (without the animals-as-people angle), include some nice touches, such as the patient-looking dog wearing gloves on its ears.

Abby Nolan

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