There's Something Odd About the Baby Sitter - Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF + Giveaway

Maria Marshall
Jun 23
4 min read

Updated: Jun 24

Full of tongue-in-cheek humor, puns, and witty illustrations, this picture book is a delightful read that will have kids and adults chuckling and giggling together.

Book cover - a boy and his dog skeptically examine a stack of three racoons wearing a trenchcoat, moustache, and bowler hat.

There's Something Odd About the Babysitter

Author: Elayne Crain

Illustrator: John Ledda

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (June 3, 2025)

Ages: 4-8

Fiction

Themes:

Humor, babysitting, and friendship.

Synopsis:

A boy gets more than he bargained for when his babysitter may or may not be a stack of raccoons in a trench coat in this laugh out loud funny picture book that kids will want to read again and again.

Freddie has had many many babysitters over the years. And he’s never liked a single one.

So when a new one shows up, he’s sure he’s in for a boring night. Yet the babysitter seems nervous. Their table manners are appalling. And dinner is garbage. . . literally.

But after Freddie decides to team up with the babysitter to turn the evening around, what started out as boring becomes a night he won’t forget.

Humorous and heartfelt, this picture book full of delightful art is about letting new people (or raccoons) in...even when it's hard.

Opening Lines:

Many sitters had visited Freddie's house over the years.

Many, many sitters. But . . .

Amelia left Freddie bored.

Freddie found Miss Twitch

much too strict.

And Mr. Kluaswhipple

only listened to his

music - never to Freddie.

What I LOVED about this book:

I love John Ledda's title page image of an advertisement for "Little Critters In-House Childcare" tacked to a telephone pole. Especially with the subtext, "Friendly & Intelligent." What a great lead into the opening spread of a poor kid whose been dealing with a range of previous sitters. No wonder he looks so forlorn as he stares out the living room window.

Internal spread - on the left, boy looking miserably out the house window into the yard. On the right, three vignettes of a teen girl sitter doing her nails and ignoring the boy. A prim strict older woman glaring at as the boy nervously stares at a complete formal place setting. And an older man lying on the couch while the boy sits miserably on the floor.

Text © Elayne Crain, 2025. Image © John Ledda, 2025.

But Freddie and his dog are in for quite the surprise after his parent's leave and the new sitter grunts at them. Okay, I have to say that John Leeda's cheery, watercolor, color pencil, and crayon illustrations (and Elayne Crain's premise) are awesome. It is so funny to see the boy and his skeptical dog staring at the top racoon as the other two raccoons peer out from inside the trench coat. Something odd indeed!

Internal spread - boy sitting on couch with this dog looking a moustached, bowler hat wearing, stack of three raccoons.

Text © Elayne Crain, 2025. Image © John Ledda, 2025.

A loud "Arr-ooo-ooo!" from Bonzo (Freddie's dog) gets him banished outside and gives the reader a great look at the three frightened raccoons temporarily suspended in the air with the trench coat flapping open. Of course, Freddie doesn't see this as he's looking the other way and squinting his eyes in an effort to pull his dog out the door.

Internal spread - on the left, three raccoons suspended in mid-air as a trench coat flaps about them, as the boy tries to haul this barking dog outside. On the right, the tower of raccoons hide behind a curtain as a boy holds out a puzzle box toward them.

As Freddie and the sitter do a puzzle together (not boring), eat a meal suspiciously like garbage (not too strict), and he discovers the sitter actually listens to him, he can't help but continue wondering that "there's something a bit odd here." I love Freddie's funny comparisons back to his previous "bad" sitters. At one point, Freddie even humorously wonders "Was this babysitter raised in the wild?" Although very clear in the illustrations, neither Freddie nor the narrator ever mention the word "raccoon." The composite threesome is always referred to as the sitter or "babysitter."

Even though it appears fairly clear that Freddie has figured out his sitter's secret, "The babysitter washed their hands before eating," he continues to go along with the raccoons' charade. Upon discovering that this is the sitter's first job, Freddie touchingly and humorously makes a friend and proceeds to teach his babysitter 'the ropes.' A wonderful wordless spread and a scramble with Freddie helping the sitter to redon the disguise will have kids and adults chuckling, especially since the parents never seem to catch on. This is a super silly, humorous book, with a subtle underlying message about being engaged with others and making friends.

Resources:

make three of your own toilet paper roll or paper bag raccoons. What disguise could you create for your raccoons?
if you've had babysitters, have you had a favorite? Or one you didn't like? Why?
what would be your ideal sitter? What would be funniest sitter you can imagine?

If you missed my interview with Elayne Crain on Monday, find it (here).

This post is part of a series of blog posts by authors and KidLit bloggers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays. For more picture book suggestions and resources see Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Books.