Screen Time!

PreS-Gr 2–Birkett offers a warm, gently humorous look at a familiar family struggle: a young child’s all-consuming love of a favorite show. Doris, a badger child, once reveled in open-ended play, books, and make-believe, but everything shifts when she discovers Bertie Banana. Soon she is glued to any available device, watching the cheerful banana “over, and over, and over again.” Birkett smartly situates Doris’s fixation within a household that isn’t screen-free either; Mommy and Daddy badger are often shown with devices nearby (a phone tucked in a pocket, resting on a lap during a snooze), a realistic acknowledgment that children model what they see. As viewing limits spark dinnertime protests, Doris’s parents avoid shaming her preferences. Daddy instead suggests a break in Cheery Woods, the same forest the soon-to-be parents walk in the opening spread—a lovely visual loop that reinforces nature as a grounding, shared space. The woodland outing becomes a day of collaborative play, exploration, and connection, and Birkett’s digitally rendered ­illustrations burst with autumn color and kid energy. The badger family and their animal friends appear in lively scenes filled with motion and child-friendly detail. ­Doris’s ­delight as she reconnects with friends, along with Daddy’s own device-free participation, feels natural rather than didactic. The narrative ends on a balanced note; screen time is okay, but real-life connection takes center stage.