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Why Do I Have to Make My Bed?



Why Do I Have to Make My Bed? Or, A History of Messy Rooms
by Wade Bradford, illustrated by Johanna van der Sterre
Tricycle Press, 2011. Unpaged. Picture Book

The age-old question, why should one make one's bed since it's just going to get messy again anyway, is answered in the usual unsatisfactory way in this tour through the ages of children asking. As each child asks, each mother is reminded of her grandmother, or her great-grandmother, or her ever-so-many times great-great grandfather and how he/she didn't want to make his/her bed either. The pioneer girl has already "dusted off Pa's fiddle," picked up her marbles, lasso, and rag doll so why should she have to make her bed? The Roman boy has already "unclogged the aqueducts, dusted off the statues, and picked up after the gladiators," and the Viking girl has already "stoked the fire . . . , dusted off the sacred blowing horn . . . , and patched up Father's war wounds," so why should they also have to MAKE THEIR BEDS? All these children, even back to the Cave Child, get the same answer, which you can probably guess, but if not, read through this delightful book to find out. Information on children's lives and amusements through the years is appended. The pictures are a gas, too--especially the similarly aggrieved looks on the faces of each child.

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