Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Parents in picture books may be seen coming from or going to work, but they're rarely seen at work, especially with jobs that are backbreaking and poorly paid. This picture book, like Karen Hesse's Night Job (2018), shows parents on the night shift doing janitorial work. Here a family of three lives in an apartment so small that their little boy, Daniel, must sleep in a corner of the room. We see how fragile the social support is for them when the babysitter cancels, and the parents, who clean an office building at night, must take a very tired Daniel to work with them, driving their old, beat-up car. The illustrations, done by renowned French American artist Campion, are wonderful at showing both the reality of work (the parents sweat and sneeze and struggle) and a luminous imaginary world (the building they enter looks like a menacing robot's gigantic head), complete with traces of friendly dragons—a fiction that the parents create in order to help get their boy through the night. The ending delivers a socially conscious message, with the boy resolving to be nice to the dragons (aka workers) when he becomes the Paper King (boss) one day. Enchanting and powerful. Grades K-2. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
Horn Book Guide Reviews
Daniel usually stays home and sleeps when his parents go to work as night janitors for a corporation, but when one evening his babysitter can't come, he must go to work with them. They try to keep sleepy Daniel entertained by telling him that the office is a Paper Kingdom: the conference room is a throne room; the bosses are a king and queen who send paper to everyone in the kingdom and preside over the dragons, who are small and friendly but very messy. Daniel's parents hope he will someday become a king who will tell the dragons to be nice and neat. The boy rapidly intuits the power imbalances and questions why some people make messes that others must clean. Campion's colorful, impressionistic illustrations, awash with warmth and light, show paper drifts, messy kitchens, and dragons hiding behind bathroom stalls. Subtle facial expressions convey the family members' closeness (and, via the sweat on Mom's brow, their hard work), while creative use of shadow and perspective captures the largeness of the space and the intimacy of imaginary play between parents and child. As his mom and dad busily clean their way through the office spaces, Daniel's wide-eyed, feet-planted observation invites readers to likewise contemplate the hierarchies and invisible labor of spaces they inhabit. Copyright 2021 Horn Book Guide Reviews.
Horn Book Magazine Reviews
Daniel usually stays home and sleeps when his parents go to work as night janitors for a corporation, but when one evening his babysitter can't come, he must go to work with them. They try to keep sleepy Daniel entertained by telling him that the office is a Paper Kingdom: the conference room is a "throne room"; the bosses are a king and queen who send paper to everyone in the kingdom and preside over the dragons, who are "small and friendly" but very messy. Daniel's parents hope he will someday become a king who will "tell the dragons to be nice and neat." The boy rapidly intuits the power imbalances and questions why some people make messes that others must clean. Campion's colorful, impressionistic illustrations, awash with warmth and light, show paper drifts, messy kitchens, and dragons hiding behind bathroom stalls. Subtle facial expressions convey the family members' closeness (and, via the sweat on Mom's brow, their hard work), while creative use of shadow and perspective captures the largeness of the space and the intimacy of imaginary play between parents and child. As his mom and dad busily clean their way through the office spaces, Daniel's wide-eyed, feet-planted observation invites readers to likewise contemplate the hierarchies and invisible labor of spaces they inhabit. Julie Hakim Azzam March/April 2020 p.70 Copyright 2020 Horn Book Magazine Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
Daniel accompanies his parents to their job late one night and discovers a magical kingdom. Daniel's parents are night janitors and get ready for work just as Daniel gets ready for bed. Usually Auntie Clara babysits him, but one night when she cannot, Daniel must go with his parents to their job. Though the story takes place in the middle of the night, full-page illustrations brimming with color and depth bring the story to life. Unsurprisingly, Daniel is sleepy and on the verge of tears, but he must stay awake as his parents mop floors, vacuum, dust shelves, and clean the bathrooms. Despite his tiredness, Daniel can't help but question why everything is a mess and why his parents must be the ones to clean up everything. It angers him to see his parents working so hard to clean up other people's messes, but his parents reassure him with stories of the Paper Kingdom and well-meaning dragons. Lushly respectful illustrations perfectly complement this simple yet heartwarming story that highlights the struggles of working-class parents and the sacrifices they make for th eir families. Daniel's parents sometimes appear multiple times on a spread, emphasizing their busyness. This diverse story features a family of color depicted with brown skin and black hair. A beautiful, must-read tribute to hardworking families and the magic they create. (author's note) (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
"Mama and Papa were night janitors," writes Rhee (
School Library Journal Reviews