Publishers Weekly calls SOMETHING GOOD by Kenneth Kraegel a “swiftly paced, effervescent comedy”

“This morning I woke up with a chicken on my head. Ouch,” begins this moody tale about a day that starts off wrong and goes downhill. Next, the child narrator finds worms in their breakfast cereal and realizes, “too late,” that their boots are full of mud. “Blah. Nothing good ever happens to me,” they say. Spiky watercolor, gouache, and ink artwork from Kraegel (Mushroom Lullaby) signals interior gloom as the pale-skinned youth, sporting a yellow dress, trudges across the pages. Their distracted friend Zoe, portrayed with brown skin, ignores their offer of a hug. The protagonist then falls into a hole, and a hairy mastodon takes a nap over the entrance. Finally, an unexpected present tied with a ribbon and left on the sidewalk contains something so wonderful, so magical, that it transforms everything: “SOMETHING GOOD HAS HAPPENED TO ME!!!” What’s more, the gift is easy to make use of with others, and it’s more fun that way. Feather-light messages about sharing joys and not assuming the worst accompany this swiftly paced, effervescent comedy with Peanuts vibes. Ages 2–5. Agent: Allison Remcheck, Stimola Literary Studio.