Tulip's Mess

by Anden Wilder

Overview

A playful picture book about a little girl who must confront her growing mess after it swallows her most beloved stuffed toy, and the importance of keeping a little tidy.

Mess follows Tulip everywhere. He’s there to swallow her socks before bed and nibble on crumbs left behind after snack time. But as Tulip ignores Mess, he grows hungrier and bigger. Then one morning Tulip hears a gigantic SLURP from under her bed. Mess has swallowed her beloved stuffed toy, Ta! How will Tulip get her back?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593704769
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	10/28/2025
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	11.37(w) x 9.37(h) x 0.45(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Anden Wilder was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. She attended the Maryland Institute College of Art and graduated with a degree in painting. With a great love for reading and children’s literature, she went on to receive a Masters Degree in Educational Psychology and Early Childhood Literacy. She is a professor of illustration at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. Anden's picture book work explores feelings of inadequacy, longing, and the desire to belong that children always feel. She wants to remind readers that, even though our human experiences may look very different, our feelings are often the same.

Editorial Reviews

2025-06-13
Small clutter adds up over time.

Tulip, a pale-skinned, dark-haired child, has a knack for creating mess. What starts with an errant candy wrapper or two and a loose sock quickly becomes utter chaos. Her “little Mess,” personified as a swirling cloud of gray scribbles with eyes and a mouth, feeds off the constant trail of food, pencil shavings, and dirty clothes. The Mess grows bigger as time passes and soon becomes unmanageable. When Tulip’s favorite plush cat, Ta, gets lost in the overwhelming disarray, she dives in to retrieve her friend, emerging with Ta—and the realization that cleanliness and order are important. Writing in short, staccato sentences, Wilder avoids the preachiness of similar tales, acknowledging how easy it can be to let mess take over one’s life but reassuring readers that, step by step, the chaos can be conquered. Happily, she makes clear that a little messiness is OK; the tale concludes with an image of Tulip drawing while smiling down at a beaming, much smaller Mess. Wilder’s expressive gouache illustrations, many set against stark white backgrounds, use scale and perspective to convey the Mess’ increasingly intrusive presence.

A satisfying primer on staying organized that, refreshingly, gives kids the space to still be themselves.(Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews

"A satisfying primer on staying organized that, refreshingly, gives kids the space to still be themselves." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher