A parental date night sparks a wild flurry of imagined "What if?" disasters from the children left at home. Hardly are Mom and Dad out the door than the two sibs have them being attacked by evil unicorns and hostile ostriches, assailed by vampires, menaced by a giant squid, andreduced to the size of crumbs thanks to minicupcakes made with too much "shrinking powder"washed down a drain toward a waiting horde of equally tiny sewer alligators. Fortunately the children's sitter, being both calm and canny, has clever ways to escape each pickle on tap: asked how the kids' parents would "get big again," she says, "Have you ever had a jumbo-sized cookie? Well, how do you think they make them jumbo-sized?" The co-authors are professional improv/stand-up performers, and that background shows in the rapid, free-form way scenarios develop as they're tossed back and forth. They theatrically build to a crescendo and end in a burst of relief with the parents' return, looking none the worse for their fanciful (or, to judge from the closing scene, maybe not so fanciful) adventures. Though Bui puts the grown-ups in a classic convertible and adds other retro notes, the casual clothing, not to mention dad's knit cap, give the cartoon illustrations a contemporary vibe. Parents, kids, and babysitter are all white. The children look understandably anxious from first to last, but for readers at least, the not-too-scary monsters and quickly foiled threats turn the whole situation into an entertaining game. (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

When the hipstery parents of two siblings sneak out for a date night, their kids fret about all the bad things that could be happening to them. It falls to babysitter Abby to deflect the kids' worst-case scenarios, and her imagination is as quick as theirs are. First-time authors Goodman and Kisiel, a husband-and-wife team, run a comedy troupe, and it shows: the children's exchanges with their babysitter have the freewheeling, anything-goes energy of improv. What if a giant squid attacks during dinner? "Your mom would just braid those tentacles right up!" Evil unicorns, jetpack-wearing ostriches, and a movie theater staffed by vampires are just a few of date-night pitfalls the (unnamed) children envision; newcomer Bui pictures these and other daring escapades in dramatic scenes that resemble storyboards for an animated film. While a night spent worrying might not seem like the best use of one's time and energy, Goodman and Kisiel suggest that imagination is where the real fun is. Ages 3-7. Authors' agent: Brian DeFiore, DeFiore and Company. Illustrator's agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Productions. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.