Bedhead by Margie Palatini

This book is about a young boy named Oliver who makes up to horrible, uncontrollable bedhead. His parents and sister hear his scream and come to help him. They try wetting his hair, spraying his hair, pinning his hair, and even brushing his hair but nothing is working. Finally, they decided to put on his baseball hat and it seems to hide the bedhead. When he gets to school, he realizes that it is picture day and he must take his hat off. As he takes it off, everyone stares at him in horror and this is when the photographer takes the class picture.

I like this book because of the suspense that it builds, even on the first page: "In a gunkless corner of the soapy silver soap dish....in a fogless smidgen of his father's foggy shaving mirror...right there on the hot water faucet, for heaven's sake...he saw it! It was BIG. It was BAD. It was...." And then, you turn to the next page to find out that it is BEDHEAD!! It also has suspense when Oliver's family tries something new to his hair. You have to turn the page to see if it actually worked. It even had suspense at the end when the photographer took the picture. I also like the way Palatini made her text so it was clear how to read it. For example, when Oliver's family go into the bathroom, they turn the doorknob s l o w l y. This shows the reader how to read the word "slowly."

The illustrator, Jack E. Davis, did a good job with the pictures. He adds a lot of detail and emotion. You can tell the anguish Oliver is feeling over his hair because his forehead is sweating, his eyebrows are turned up, and his eyes are wide. Every page is filled with such detail that you have to pause from the reading just to take the time to enjoy each page. I like how Davis made each illustration funny. In almost every page, he either has the family cat, dog, or both making hilarious facial features but you would hardly notice this if you didn't take the time to look. The text and the illustrations are both wonderful and go great together. I would recommend this book to everyone.