Janet Sumner Johnson

Help Wanted, Must Love Books is an absolutely cute, little picture book that will make your heart sing!

If it's not obvious, I love reading! So, when a book like this comes around I get super excited. What is more exciting than a book about loving books?! This sort of book (wow, I'm saying book a lot) would have been one of my favourites as a child. If only there had been a few more of these gems around when I was little!

Shailey is a little girl who loves to read. Her Dad and her read show more together, but one day he gets a job that makes him too tired to read to her (which is quite frustrating for our little friend). Once she has enough, she fires her Father as her reading buddy and puts out a job posting for a new one! So many people and animals show up for the job, and thus the hunt began! Help was wanted and they must love books (doesn't the title work so well here?).

My positive notes:

1. I absolutely love the cover. The colours are fantastic, the cartoon-y vibe is delightful and I love the detail (butterflies, books, bears... so many b's!). It grabs your attention but doesn't divert you from the story.

2. Shailey is relatable - at least to me! I could see many kids relating and enjoying seeing someone who acts (or looks!) like them. To top it off, the storyline she follows is also relatable (a parent who's new job makes them too busy... yep, check out those relatable boxes!).

3. I like that this story took a creative leap with the different characters who show up for the job interview. I wasn't expecting this book to be super serious, so seeing the array of characters had me chuckling. This would be a great way to get kids talking about prior fairy tales they read! On this note, parents and some older kids may appreciate it more than little kids. Some of our younger reader friends might not be able to remember all of the fun fairy tales they've seen before.

4. The ending was super sweet! Devices OFF during family time, folks!

I can honestly say I don't have any negatives for this book. I think this is a very sweet and very creative book. I would love to see more books like this floating around.

Five out of five stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Capstone for providing me with a free copy of this book. show less

Shailey, the sweet and sassy little black girl pictured on the cover, loves bedtime. Because bedtime is storytime with her dad! But now that he's got a new job, their bedtime storytimes are a thing of the past and Shailey is NOT happy. She determines to find a replacement bedtime reader and starts interviewing candidates, all from classic fairy tales. Unfortunately, none of them are quite right. The Big Bad Wolf scares off the three little pigs, Snow White brings all the dwarves, and so on. show more Each night Shailey adds another proviso to her job ad, as she gets giants, thieving gingerbread men, and frightening pirates. Shailey is about to give up, when one last applicant shows up. He's a very familiar Robin Hood and turns out to be just the right person for the job - especially when he promises to put away his work during her bedtime ritual.

Dawson's illustrations are slick and colorful, with the perspectives of the various fairy tale critters changing from the giant, well, giant, to Goldilocks trying out Shailey's furniture. All the fairy tale characters, however, are white, with the exception of Shailey's father dressed up as Robin Hood and a couple of the dwarves. This seems unnecessary, especially as the protagonist is black. Why shouldn't Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty be black? It sends, in my opinion, the wrong message, reinforcing the fairy tale standard of beauty as white, thin women.

Overall, it's a cute story. Shailey is a strong character and interviews her possible storytellers like a champ, figuring out as she goes along how to change her application. Her dad's eventual capitulation isn't clearly explained, but it's a satisfying end to the story.

Verdict: The all-white fairy tale cast drops this from recommended to a possible addition to bedtime reading, in my opinion, but other than that it's a cute story.

ISBN: 9781684460755; Published March 2020 by Capstone; Review copy provided by the publisher show less

A little girl's unhappiness with her distracted father leads her to fire him as bedtime story reader and begin interviews for a replacement. A number of familiar fairy tale figures show up for the job but none of them are just right. Cute and amusing.

Annie and Jason are best friends:

"He and I had been best friends, since birth (well, at least his birth - those two hours in the hospital nursery before Jason arrived were the loneliest two hours of my life)".

They are spies:

"For a lesser spy, the pressure might have been too much, but Jason and I had been working on our technique for three years now. Ever since he got that spy kit for his seventh birthday".

And they are the only two members of the PB & J Society, which serves the important show more mission of burying smashed PB & J sandwiches in a solemn ceremony:

"We are saddened by the loss of our favorite food and think on happier times before it was smushed and became gross. We are grateful for the many times it saved us from the evils of broccoli casserole and bid it farewell on its new journey to feed the worms. May it rest in peace".

But one day they found out Jason's family needs to sell their house and move to California due to foreclosure. Annie would do anything to keep her friend from moving away: sell her appendix on eBay, win the lottery, sell cookies, ask the bank for more time, beg in a street corner, get a job, and even find a pirate treasure!

I just loved this book. The characters are absolutely lovely, and the plot is funny at the same time it touches some hard topics. A story about friendship, persistence and the changes that are always waiting for us.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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