Alfie's Lost Sharkie, written by Anna Walker, reviewed by Todd Erickson

Summary: An all-dialogue text details the plight of procrastinator tyke-sized Alligator, Alfie. This easy reader picture book describes bedtime for Alfie, in all his distracted glory. He attempts to sideline his parent's attempt to keep him on task for bedtime. A search for Sharkie is interwoven with bath time, storytime, and all the usual bedtime rituals. His parent's patience indicates this search has also become a bedtime ritual.

Straight Talk for Librarians: This could be read as a read-aloud for very young children, who will recognize their own attempts to thwart inevitable bedtime. It could spark discussion on sequencing, detailing step by step bedtime rituals. It could also work as a paired choral reading, with one reader taking the role of the parent and one reader taking the role of Alfie. The text is large and easy to read, and this would work well as an easy-reader leveled library book.