But If They Do

Linda Ludke is a librarian at the London Public Library.

A father tucks his daughter into bed with the evening wish of “Nighty
night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.” The little girl’s
imagination runs wild, and she dreams up strategies for eliminating the
pesky bugs if they do appear: “I’ll jump up on a pogo stick / And
pogo across the floor! / I’ll drive ’em from the bedroom / With a
mighty lion roar!” Each time her father tries to resettle her with a
different verse, she comes up with boisterous new ways to deal with
ghouls (“grab ’em by their pointy horns / And catch ’em by their
tails”), monsters (“Pound ’em in a pillow fight”), and vampires
(“dunk ’em in the garbage can”). Father quiets his rambunctious
daughter with a final soothing, calm refrain.

Marc Mongeau’s muted yellow-and-green watercolour illustrations are
funny, not scary. Bill Richardson’s rollicking verse begs to be read
aloud. Recommended.