Hello, friends! Our book today is Harriet Gets Carries Away by Jessie Sima, an adorable fantasy about a little girl and her tendency to let her imagination run wild.

Harriet LOVES to play dress-up, and not just on Halloween. And she loves to wear costumes everywhere – to the dentist, to the park, and out in the city with her dads. On the day of her birthday (a costume party, naturally), Harriet’s dads take her to the store to get some food for the party and some party hats. Harriet dons her penguin costume – complete with smart red bow tie – and heads out with them after they give her a gentle warning: “Don’t get carried away”. But while at the store, Harriet wanders off… and finds a whole army of real penguins in the frozen section! She follows them to their hot air balloons, where she gets mixed up in the shuffle and ends up carried away to the South Pole! What follows is an adventure where Harriet gets carried away by a few more new friends. Will she be able to get back to the city in time for her party, and before her dads notice that she’s gone?

So cute. A fun ode to a child’s imagination, and how they have the ability to create entire grand adventures from a single spark of inspiration. The story itself is a gentle yet exciting adventure, and little readers will love following along. The art is adorable, using a mostly rosy/purple palette to create a warm sense of fun and wonderful endearing characters. Even the details are a treat: the casual inclusion of a multiracial LGBTQ family, the final gag showing that Harriet is not alone her imaginative tendencies, even the clever plays on the term “carried away” – it all adds up to a joyful little read. The length was great, JJ loved it, and it’s Baby Bookworm approved!