WHEN YOU’RE FEELING SICK, by Coy Bowles and Andy Elkerton, Doubleday Books for Young Readers, Jan. 10, 2017, Hardcover, $12.99 (ages 3-5)
We’ve been sick at our house for what seems like forever. And I mean FOR.EV.ER. Like since before Christmas forever. So I was really excited to share When You’re Feeling Sick with my daughter. Unfortunately, I should have read it through more than once on my own first, because although the concept is super fun, the prose has some issues.
When You’re Feeling Sick is a humorous book that offers advice on how to deal with those days when “You get something you can’t kick.” From not pouring chicken noodle soup on your head to not inviting over purple elephants over for lunch and not being afraid of nurses to not giving up, this book does have some serious heart.
Illustrations by Andy Elkerton are bold and comedic. His characters are equally goofy and sympathetic, and he really captures a child’s imagination. But while the illustrations are spot on, the text is not. Almost every page has some phrasing that just doesn’t work. You’re reading along and all of the sudden, the cadence sputters. Some rhymes are too convenient, and other wording just plain doesn’t work.This is one of those cases where I wish the text had been edited down so that the illustrations could to the talking.
