Smithy and Me

Darcy Day Zoells graduated from Northwestern University where she studied art history and studio art. For ten years, she ran a visual literacy program in a K-5 school. She still feels passionate about helping children look critically and verbalize their questions about what they see. Her art history foundation and these experiences have had a profound effect on her work.

"A rambunctious but well-meaning child and dog make mess after mess.As the evening unfolds, the young narrator provides deadpan comments focused on the little terrier’s likes and dislikes (“Smithy doesn’t like to share, but he loves tug of war because…he always wins”), while the illustrations depict the unspoken consequences of their activities (after the pair playfully fight over a toy, they knock over a vase and a table). Smithy joins the child in getting ready for bed, but he fears ghosts and the dark (a bedclothes tussle generates a pillow-feather storm). Each time the two get into mischief, the protagonist’s preternaturally patient, busy mother hears suspicious sounds from the next room and calls, “What’s going on in there?” The narrator’s answer is always a meek “Nothing.” When Mom sees the chaos, her saintly response is merely a quiet “Oh dear” or “Oh my” and a promise to tidy up. The roomful of feathers proves the last straw, however: Mom is just “too tired tonight” either to clean up or to read the usual story. But as the light flicks off, the child calls her back for a warm wordless hug. In the final spread, narrator and dog enjoy a story while Mom curls up alongside them, asleep. This extended joke will amuse and warm the heart; overworked parents will see themselves in exhausted Mom. Zoells' understated prose is accompanied by clear, clever, and delicately colored fine-line drawings depicting the humans as brown-skinned. A humorous, all-too-familiar portrayal of bedtime hijinks. (Picture book. 4-8)" - Kirkus Reviews "Smithy the dog is a reliable companion for his unnamed child as they play tug-of-war, take baths,and get ready for bed. Warm, gentle illustrations reveal that while they frolic, Mom is constantlyworking on architectural drawings in her at-home office, a task she leaves just long enough toclean up after the family’s messy high jinks. There is an undercurrent of sadness in this tale, asthe child seems to be doing things with the dog that they wish their mom would do with theminstead—most notably at the end, when she says she “is just too tired tonight.” So, the childreads a bedtime story to Smithy as exhausted Mom sleeps beside them. There is no indication ofother family members, making their loving bedtime hug especially poignant. Caregivers mayrecognize themselves in a parent who is stretched thin, but young readers will likely need help tounderstand how keeping a household running is as much a sign of love as Smithy’s playfulfriendship." - Booklist