I Can Be Anything by Shinsuke Yoshitake (9781452180380)

At bedtime, a little girl insists that her mother play a guessing game with her. She pretends to be something and her mother must guess what she is. Her mother is reluctant and it’s clear that the little girl has gotten grumpy playing this game in the past. Readers will soon realize that this is a much more difficult game than they might have thought! The mother makes logical guesses but each time is wrong as the little girl pretends to be everything from an omelette to Mount Fuji. By the end of the game, the little girl is very tired and finally falls asleep in the middle of acting something out. Readers and the mother wonder what that might have been.

Yoshitake takes a classic moment in childhood and makes it priceless. She captures both the tired mother and the dynamic child deftly in this clever picture book. The mother getting everything wrong is pitch perfect as is the little girl’s building frustration with the situation. The relationship between them is quietly loving and filled with acceptance. The art in the book is simple and effective, showing the little girl’s version of the object and then an image of the actual thing.

Just right for all children trying to avoid bedtime. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from copy provided by Chronicle Books.