Twinkle Twinkle Little Kid

K-Gr 2–This starts like many bedtime stories: There’s a bright star in the sky and a white boy named Clyde decides to wish on it. Dejected that his wish doesn’t immediately come true, he goes to sleep until the very star he wished on visits his bedroom window and starts to make a wish on him! From there, the writing style shifts into Daywalt’s signature humor, as Clyde tries to guess what the star might have wished for. Finally, the star and Clyde discover that both of them had wished for a friend. The ending, while sweet, feels a little abrupt, perhaps because of a mashup of two writing styles that is not entirely cohesive. The early pacing and plot development is suitable for preschoolers, while the writing style (“Don’t judge me! I’m not the weirdo climbing in people’s windows!”) seems aimed at an elementary audience. Tying it together is Idle’s dream-like pencil art, rendered in deep purple tones, a perfect fit for the bedtime story plot.