Tomorrow Most Likely

February 1, 2019
Gentle, playful affirmation from Eggers and Smith.No one can know what tomorrow will hold, but Eggers' text offers comfort and delight in likelihoods. A title-page illustration depicts a child who appears black lying in bed and smiling up at a woman. Her face isn't visible, but her bare, lighter-skinned arms are, and the scene suggests that she's mom, tucking her child into bed. Perhaps, then, ensuing text is in her voice, soothing her child to sleep not by reflecting back on the day that's been, but by anticipating the next. There's poetry and not a little goofiness in those anticipatory statements. "Tomorrow most likely / there will be a sky. / And chances are it will be blue. // Tomorrow most likely / there will be a squirrel. / And chances are his name is Stu." Smith's multimedia art, rendered in oils, pen and ink, paper collage, and digital media, matches the playful, heartfelt text, offering images of the unnamed protagonist venturing out into the neighborhood, where colorful skyscrapers tower overhead. Encounters with an odd, beaked beast, a worried bug (whose friend Stu is missing), and "a stone / striped like a spiderweb or maybe a brain" add whimsy. Closing scenes affirm this beloved child's place in the world: "Tomorrow most likely / will be a great day / because you are in it, // and" (readers will be relieved to learn) "Stu is okay."A pleaser most likely. (Picture book. 3-7)

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Starred review from March 1, 2019

PreS-Gr 2-As a young black boy is tucked into bed, he imagines both the ordinary and extraordinary things that might happen the next day. Popping with rhyme, humor, and imagination, the text takes readers from a mundane blue sky to a squirrel named Stu and Cousin Todd blowing a kazoo. Lane's mixed-media illustrations add vibrancy to each panel, lending a jazzy, infectious beat to Eggers's lines. Each stanza begins with the phrase "Tomorrow most likely" and rhymes, with the laughable exception of "Tomorrow most likely/something won't rhyme." Perspective plays a tremendous role in the art and text, which helps both the flow and repetition to stay interesting even for older readers. At times, Smith reveals only part of what is happening in a picture or shows the cityscape and then abruptly adjusts to reveal the full picture or zooms in on a detail in the verse. Playful metaphors, such as "you could eat a cloud," are simply fun when combined with the art. Ultimately, the zaniness wraps with the core message: "Tomorrow most likely/will be a great day/because you are in it" and encourages originality and creativity in children. VERDICT Highly recommended for all collections; an outstanding storytime selection.-Rachel Zuffa, Case High School, Racine, WI

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2019
Preschool-G As a child with brown skin and curly black hair settles in bed at the close of day, he and his mother think of the possibilities tomorrow may offer. Some thoughts are realistic: Tomorrow most likely there will be a sky. And chances are it will be blue. Some ideas are fanciful: Tomorrow most likely there will be a squirrel. And chances are his name is Stu. Illustrations using oil paint, paper collage, and pen and ink with digital assistance show the boy imagining himself in the new day, wearing his yellow hat and jacket, experiencing all that his parent describes. The brightly colored illustrations, which employ various perspectives, range in size from vignettes to single and double spreads. Each section of rhyming text begins with the words Tomorrow most likely, suggesting what the following day might bring. Eggers' words could offer hope and reassurance to a youngster after a not-so-happy day. As a bedtime book, this positive paean could help a child think pleasant thoughts before drifting off to sleep.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Novelist Eggers has been making a splash in kidlit; paired here with Caldecott honoree Smith, he'll make waves.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2019
A young brown-skinned boy, cozy in bed, smiles up at the female caretaker sitting beside him on this imaginative story's title-page spread. Turn the page, and the soothing, rhyming text begins: Tomorrow most likely / there will be a sky. / And chances are it will be blue. The story proceeds with the many possibilities a day could hold within the child's colorfully stylized city neighborhood, from the mundane (eating breakfast), to the playful (encountering a squirrel?named Stu), to the fantastical ( You might ride a whale. / You could eat a cloud ). Bright colors and energetic, angular lines populate the boy's day as he envisions the goings-on; he clearly hopes for considerable excitement. Eggers's narrative voice humorously intervenes at times ( Tomorrow most likely / something won't rhyme ), bringing us back to the improvisational, tongue-in-cheek ways a story can be spun for a child listener. Some of Smith's mixed-media spreads, such as one featuring taxis, have a stylish, retro look. Some spreads are divided into panels to propel the boy forward through his imagined tomorrow, and font colors change to accommodate mood. The book ends on the loving, affirming note that tomorrow most likely will be a great day simply because the boy himself is in it. julie Danielson

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2019
A young brown-skinned boy, cozy in bed, smiles up at his female caretaker. The imaginative story--told in soothing, rhyming text--proceeds with the many possibilities a day could hold, from the mundane to the playful (encountering a squirrel...named Stu) to the fantastical. The stylized mixed-media illustrations' bright colors and energetic, angular lines capture the boy's city neighborhood and its hypothetical goings-on.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)