Bedtime for Mommy

Amy Krouse Rosenthal's role-reversal concept is the whole engine here, and it runs beautifully — a small girl steers her exhausted mother through the bath, the outfit choice, and just one more chapter of Anna Karenina. LeUyen Pham's ink-and-watercolor illustrations nail the joke by giving Mommy convincingly childlike body language without making her look ridiculous. Kirkus and Publishers Weekly both praised it, and word-of-mouth among parents has kept it circulating for good reason. The caveat is that the book is essentially a single comic premise with no narrative arc beyond the gag — there is no conflict, no lesson, no resolution. That is fine, because the premise is delightful. Just do not expect more than a warm, funny three minutes.