Tomorrow Most Likely

by Dave Eggers, Lane Smith (Illustrator)

Overview

Every night we say goodnight. But tonight we also ask, "What will tomorrow bring? An odd-sounding song? A worried-looking bug? A mysterious rock?" Most likely, all of the above. In a modern take on the classic goodnight book, rather than focusing on going to bed, this little boy contemplates the next day and all of the wonderful, dreamy, and silly things that are to come. Whimsical, poignant, and hopeful, this sweet book from bestselling author Dave Eggers and award-winning illustrator Lane Smith is a bedtime story for tomorrow ever after.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452176277
Publisher:	Chronicle Books
Publication date:	04/02/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Lexile:	AD420L (what's this?)
File size:	18 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Dave Eggers is the author of many books, including What Can a Citizen Do? and Her Right Foot. He is the cofounder of: Voice of Witness, an oral-history series focused on human rights; 826 National, a network of writing and tutoring centers; and ScholarMatch, which connects donors and under-resourced students to make college possible. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Lane Smith is the author and/or illustrator of several award-winning books for children. He is a two-time winner of the Caldecott Honor for Grandpa Green and The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, and several of his books have been New York Times bestsellers. He lives in Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

01/21/2019

On the title page of this meditation by Eggers (Her Right Foot), a child is seen lying in bed, hands folded expectantly. Eggers makes a small, safe promise: “Tomorrow most likely/ there will be a sky./ And chances are it will be blue.” Line by line, the possibilities grow as Smith (Grandpa Green) shows the boy, a child of color, waking, finding breakfast, and exploring city streets in a canary-yellow fedora. Spreads and panel sequences offer a kaleidoscope of sprightly colors and textures: thick paint-stroke layers, sponging, bits of collage. The soothing repetition of “tomorrow most likely” provides an ostinato for quirky, tongue-in-cheek observations (“There will be a squirrel/ And chances are his name is Stu”). The litany ends with an affirmation: “Tomorrow most likely/ will be a great day/ because you are in it.” Occasionally, Eggers’s vision of childhood experiences seems driven more by rhyme scheme than close observation (“You’ll hear something odd..../ You’ll meet Cousin Todd”). Books about outside exploration in the countryside abound. Here, the urban setting gives city kids a poem that belongs to them. Ages 3–5. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Highly recommended . . . an outstanding storytime selection.” - School Library Journal, starred review

Brightly's Most Exciting Picture Books of 2019

BookPage's Most Anticipated Children's Books of 2019

“Gentle, playful . . . heartfelt.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The soothing repetition of ‘tomorrow most likely’ provides an ostinato for quirky, tongue-in-cheek observations.” —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

★ 03/01/2019

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

School Library Journal

2019-01-16

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)

Kirkus Reviews