King Bidgood's in the Bathtub

When I landed my dream job - bookseller for Barnes & Noble - in July 2000, I couldn't imagine life improving much.  And then I set my sights on my dream position within that dream job: Children's Department Supervisor.  My then-boss seemed surprised at the passion with which I made my case: "Yes, I know it's considered a difficult job.  Yes, I just started with the company three months ago.  Yes, I really, really, really want this." Don't almost all good things happen in October?  I got the job.  My immediate supervisor told me to spend a lot of time reading the books.  I would, he said, have a lot of customers who came in looking for "that one book about a mouse in a green dress who has a picnic and my daughter just has.to.have.it or there will be no peace ever again in our house."  Um, okay.  I could handle that assignment.  I set right to work devouring picture books, and King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Don and Audrey Wood was one of my very first favorites.

Published in October (of course!) of 1985, it was a Caldecott Honor book, and with good reason.  The illustrations are lush, detailed and only my devotion to books stops me from dismantling this one and framing each page.  The premise is this: King Bidgood is in the bathtub and intends to stay there.  The distraught young Page calls on the adults in his vicinity for direction: "Help! Help!...King Bidgood's in the bathtub and he won't get out! Oh, who knows what to do?"  The Knight, the Queen, the Duke, and the Court all offer suggestions.  ("Get out!  It's time to battle!", etc), but King Bidgood only suggests that battling, lunching, fishing and the Masquerade Ball can all be handled in the bathtub!

If there's anything a young child likes, it's a ludicrous suggestion like eating lunch in the bathtub. My DD and I read this one recently for the first time in a while and he was fascinated.  He wanted to know how the fish got in the bathtub, what they were eating, and what was the meaning of the masquerade ball.

Don and Audrey Wood are masters of storytelling and illustration, and this book is as beautiful as it is fun.  But in my opinion, the best part about it is while a growing number of adults are stumped by this royal bathtub predicament, it's the little Page who comes up with the solution.

Check it out!  I bet your little Page will be stomping around the house like mine has been all afternoon, chanting "King Bidgood's in the bathtub and he won't get out!"