The Good-Bye Book by Judith Viorst

Illustrated by Kay Chorao. 32 p., Atheneum, 1988.

A boy, about three years old, angrily tries to keep his parents from going out to dinner and leaving him with a babysitter. He expresses a lot of worries about what might happen with a babysitter; for example, a sitter might force him to eat vegetables. He asks his parents to stay for another story, tells them he's sick, and threatens to run away to find new parents who never go out. He doesn't want to say goodbye. In two wordless pages, he makes a connection with the babysitter and becomes willing to say goodbye to his parents. This book would be best for children who have already expressed the angry feelings that the child expresses in the story. They will have the opportunity to see that their angry feelings can be contained, and that it might be OK to stay with a sitter in spite of their expectations.

Ages 3-6
Main character's cultural background: European American
Cultural context: European American