Author/artist Bee Johnson's second picture book, While We Wait, following 2024's What Can a Mess Make?, combines jaunty verse with inviting full-color spreads that capture a spirited day of errands for a parent and two young children. The handwritten "to do" list on the refrigerator, appended with a "BE BACK SOON"-Post-it from Dad, provides a clever preview of what's ahead even before the title page.
Leaving home is rather chaotic: an unfinished cereal bowl on the table, a frantic search for "phone and wallet./ Missing bag." The waiting siblings energetically pass the time with "chase and tag" before the trio finally heads out the door. While the parent shops at the summer market, a drummer and playful dog provide welcome distractions. As adults chat outside the vintage shop, a friendly Dalmatian invites attention; inside, the hats, glasses, and fancy dress prove too irresistible to not "make a mess." Hunger, alas, causes the kids to "fall apart," but an after-lunch rainstorm provides an opportunity for a joyful "stomp and splash" to end a day of "miles walked and/ errands run." After "soup for supper./ Bellies fed," it's finally time to go "off to bed."
Johnson's illustrations build a visual story that enhances her staccato rhyming text. Every page brims with revealing details--a fondness for dinosaurs, a friend's fabulous personal style, the end-of-day exhaustion. The morning's to-do list, visibly completed in the evening's darkness, poignantly reveals still-missing Dad, albeit a "LOVE YOU" note in child-like letters will welcome him home. The trio's joyful togetherness provides the perfect antidote to waiting. --Terry Hong