What Do Parents Do? (When You're Not Home)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2
In the same spirit as Anne Bowen's What Do Teachers Do (after YOU Leave School)? (Carolrhoda, 2006), this entertaining story explores the trouble that mischievous adults can get into when they have the house to themselves. The young narrator and his sister spend the night with their grandparents, leaving Mom and Dad home alone. According to the imaginative boy, his parents jump on the bed and slide down the stairs on pillows. They play video games and eat pizza in front of the television. The young-at-heart adults also fight over his toys and dress up the hapless dog. At the end of each page, the son follows up his recounting with a parental admonishment. ("Somebody always gets hurt when you play rough" or, "Is that the best use of their time?") Meanwhile, the kids enjoy a well-behaved visit with Grandma and Granddad, which is depicted in illustrations set off in the bottom corners of the pages. Of course, when the children return home, all evidence of their parents' rowdy evening has been erased. The watercolor-and-colored-pencil illustrations add humorous details to the story. The fluffy, white mutt's expressive reactions to the unaccustomed mayhem are particularly comical. This fun-filled selection provides an inventive twist to a typical story.
—Linda L. WalkinsCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.