Down the Drain

Reviewed: March 18, 2009
By: Robert Munsch / art by Michael Martchenko
Publisher: Scholastic Books
32 pages, $6.99

There has been a lot of discussion over the years as to whether some parents over program their kids. Tibo’s story is about a family that has done just that. Every day after school Nicholas has a different set of activities that he has to “hurry up” and get to.

On Monday, for instance his mom whisked him off to violin lessons karate practice, sculpture class and swimming lessons. Every day there was a different set of activities to fill up his time. “Bored” would not be a word in Nicholas’ vocabulary.

His schedule was so hectic that his parents and grandparents took turns getting him to all of his appointments each day because no one of them had time to do all of it. This went on for several weeks until Nicholas collapsed and had to stay in bed for several days to recover.

After that, his parents came up with a solution so that he would not get quite so exhausted - but it’s sure not the solution Nicholas would have preferred.

This is an amusing little book, one that might be food for thought for some parents as well as enjoyable for the kids.

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