Mommy and Mama want their young child, Sweet Pea (who is never gendered), to go to bed. Like kids everywhere, though, Sweet Pea knows how to stall—but author/illustrator Gaia Cornwall turns the stalling into a fun romp through the animal kingdom as Sweet Pea wants to sleep in a tree like a koala, then holding hands like sea otters, upside down like a bat, then standing up like a penguin…. With each animal proposal, Mama patiently tries to steer Sweet Pea back to their own real bed; one senses this is not the first time she’s seen this menagerie. Mommy, holding an infant, is a calm but silent presence in the background. Eventually, Sweet Pea decides that their own bed is “the best bed for me” and settles down to sleep.
The lovely pencil and watercolor illustrations are mostly in soft blues, greens and browns, which make Sweet Pea, clad in bright red pajamas, instantly draw readers’ attention. Pages alternate between vignettes of Sweet Pea in their room and full-bleed images of Sweet Pea in the outside world of their imagination, swimming with whales or holding hands with sea otters. The family’s pug dog adds an adorable spark to the scenes.
Sweet Pea and Mommy have medium-brown skin and straight dark brown/black hair; Mama appears White, with medium brown hair. Mama is heavier and Mommy is lighter. Sweet Pea is not explicitly nonbinary/genderqueer, but is never gendered, so I am tagging the book “Nonbinary/genderqueer kid” for those who want a protagonist where such an identity is possible.
This is an utterly charming book in which the fact of two moms is incidental to the tale. Families of all types should appreciate it as a wonderful bedtime (or almost bedtime…) tale.
