Petey's Bedtime Story

Beverly Cleary's wit is built for picture books, it turns out. Petey demands both parents read to him, recites elaborate prayers, checks for monsters, and then hijacks his own birth story — arriving, he insists, in a bow tie and cowboy boots, with fire trucks screaming through the hospital. By the time Petey sneaks to the kitchen for cookies and eats them in his sleeping parents' bed, the comedy is complete. David Small's energetic cartoony art is a perfect match; Kirkus praised the pairing warmly. Young children will recognize every bedtime-stalling move with delight, and parents will recognize them with something like rueful affection. The only honest caveat is that the cookies-in-bed finale could be read as rewarding mischief. A light, charming minor work from a major author — completely family-safe and genuinely funny.