A swarm of bees would likely lose against the swarm of aunts who descend, annoy, and save the day in Oh No, the Aunts Are Here, a frantically funny picture book from Adam Rex (On Account of the Gum) and Lian Cho (Lalani of the Distant Sea).
One morning a child and their parents receive an unexpected visit from members of an oft-overlooked genus of irksomely loving relative: the aunt. After the four aunties fix the kid's hair, wipe the crud from their cheek, and otherwise irritate them, the women announce their intentions to "SEE/ THE/ SIGHTS." On the drive to the National Quilt Museum, they ambush the protagonist with tedious questions; back home, the aunts take over their bedroom (the child sleeps on the couch). The kid only comes to appreciate the aunts when, wielding hand sanitizer, they save the child from an uninvited guest of a different species: a hungry wolf.
Rex is unceasingly droll with his caricaturing of auntly habits: they wear sun visors and fanny packs, and give their nibling a dollar and some airplane peanuts. Working in mixed media, Cho introduces spot-on particulars, such as one aunt's trio of cool-aunt-themed T-shirts. It takes the threat of mortal danger to bring about the child's sudden appreciation for their aunts, and their ensuing esteem for the aunties reaches a level that no amount of hand sanitizer could have vanquished. Oh No, the Aunts Are Here is, oh yes, a cause for celebration. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author