Impossible
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A funny story about a seemingly impossible child and his desperate parents, who enlist the help of a specialist with unexpected results …
Toribio is two years old and his parents love him very much, but some days, taking care of him feels like an impossible task. He won’t sleep, makes a fuss when eating, splashes his bath water everywhere, and refuses to use his potty. At the end of the day, Toribio’s parents are exhausted. So when they see an ad for a specialist who can solve any type of problem, his desperate parents make an appointment right away. Mrs. Meridien’s methods deliver overnight results, but her solution isn’t quite what they had in mind …
Impossible is a funny story with a surprise ending that will delight young children and exhausted parents alike.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this wispy be-careful-what-you-wish-for fable that takes a comic scenario to the far reaches of its logic, the title's "impossible" refers to two-and-a-half-year-old Toribio. Though he looks sweetly at readers as he clutches a red truck, he is driving his parents around the bend. He doesn't sleep, and they can't, either. He fusses over meals and won't permit his hair to be washed ("What happened?" his father gasps, as Toribio's mother, clad in a sleeveless red dress, emerges from the bathroom drenched). And he doesn't want to use the potty, preferring instead to fill his pants. Punchy spreads by Isol (Daytime Visions) combine splashes of wash and loose figure outlines that don't quite align, contributing to the sense of household chaos. In desperation, Toribio's parents answer a newspaper ad: for $250, Mrs. Meridien, an expert, promises to put everything to rights. And she does, in a most unexpected way. Despite the sweet-tempered setup, which establishes Toribio as a reasonably defiant toddler, the story proves a sly cautionary tale, instead, about his parents—and the fruitlessness of wishing to change an individual's very nature. Ages 3–7.
