Review by Booklist Review
A simple rhyming text tells of a small child spending the night at a friend's house. As the two children, one white and one with darker skin, sit together in a large chair looking bored, one of them introduces the idea of pillows as their mode of play: "Couch pillows. Bed pillows. Stack them high above your head pillows." Employing their imaginations, they utilize the pillows to build a rocket ship and travel to the sun, construct a pillow castle, ride pillow horses in a jousting match, and become pirates aboard a pillow ship. All that frolicking eventually wears them out, and they use their pillows in a more conventional manner, falling asleep. Bold mixed-media illustrations feature stripes, plaids, checks, and prints in bright colors with textures that can almost be felt on the page. Backgrounds feature wallpapers also in stripes and plaids, adding to the colorful display. A little black cat accompanies the two on all their adventures and snoozes on the guest's bed at the conclusion of an entertaining tale.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This picture book opens with an awkward sleepover moment: two kids sit on a sofa, not sure what to do. But these pals, one brown-skinned and one white, quickly hit on an idea based on what's right in front of them: pillows. Accom- panied by the host's faithful and equally imaginative black cat, the kids harvest cushions throughout the house and create a spaceship, a castle, and a pirate ship for some vivid pretend play before bedding down for the night. Meanwhile, the lilting, minimal text leans heavily into the fun inherent in repeating the word pillow ("What should we make pillows. What will it be pillows. Climb aboard and come with me pillows"). The stage-like domestic setting doesn't seem to offer Kuefler (The Digger and the Flower) much opportunity to showcase his considerable skill in evoking character and setting through texture and color. But his protagonists' wide mouths and bright-eyed enthusiasm certainly convey that there's mild mischievousness afoot, and it's fun to see how the kids' pillow stacking defies the laws of physics. Readers should close the book ready to perform a thorough inventory of the pillow potential in their own homes. Ages 4--8. Agent: Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties. (June)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Sleep comes and goes, but pillows are forever. Two kids, one presenting White and one with brown skin and dark hair, spend a sleepover together. Initially they're not quite sure what to do, but the couch they sit on provides the perfect answer. Pillows! Soon they're running around the home gathering a wide array, as many as they can carry. Creative use of these cushions furnishes them with pretend spaceships and planets covered in lava. With pillows they can be knights with lances or pirates fighting plaid sea monsters. But soon exhaustion seeps in, and before you know it, "Pillow starlight" gives way to "Pillow sleep." The rhyming wordplay is kept short and simple overall ("Pillow lifting. / Pillow piling. / Pillow building. / Pillow smiling"), making the star of the show the visual representation of the kids' fantasies. As an added bonus, every imaginary world and being in this book is entirely constructed out of pillow fabric, from the ETs to the knights' steeds. Children will love spotting the pet cat who joins in the play with surprising enthusiasm. Sleepover first-timers are sure to find pillowy comfort here. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Imagination and some comfy cushions save the day for sleepover enthusiasts everywhere. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
