ALA Booklist (Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2019)

As a child with brown skin and curly black hair settles in bed at the close of day, he and his mother think of the possibilities tomorrow may offer. Some thoughts are realistic: "Tomorrow most likely there will be a sky. And chances are it will be blue." Some ideas are fanciful: "Tomorrow most likely there will be a squirrel. And chances are his name is Stu." Illustrations using oil paint, paper collage, and pen and ink with digital assistance show the boy imagining himself in the new day, wearing his yellow hat and jacket, experiencing all that his parent describes. The brightly colored illustrations, which employ various perspectives, range in size from vignettes to single and double spreads. Each section of rhyming text begins with the words "Tomorrow most likely," suggesting what the following day might bring. Eggers' words could offer hope and reassurance to a youngster after a not-so-happy day. As a bedtime book, this positive paean could help a child think pleasant thoughts before drifting off to sleep.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Novelist Eggers has been making a splash in kidlit; paired here with Caldecott honoree Smith, he'll make waves.

Horn Book (Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

A young brown-skinned boy, cozy in bed, smiles up at his female caretaker. The imaginative story--told in soothing, rhyming text--proceeds with the many possibilities a day could hold, from the mundane to the playful (encountering a squirrel...named Stu) to the fantastical. The stylized mixed-media illustrations' bright colors and energetic, angular lines capture the boy's city neighborhood and its hypothetical goings-on.

Kirkus Reviews

Gentle, playful affirmation from Eggers and Smith.No one can know what tomorrow will hold, but Eggers' text offers comfort and delight in likelihoods. A title-page illustration depicts a child who appears black lying in bed and smiling up at a woman. Her face isn't visible, but her bare, lighter-skinned arms are, and the scene suggests that she's mom, tucking her child into bed. Perhaps, then, ensuing text is in her voice, soothing her child to sleep not by reflecting back on the day that's been, but by anticipating the next. There's poetry and not a little goofiness in those anticipatory statements. "Tomorrow most likely / there will be a sky. / And chances are it will be blue. // Tomorrow most likely / there will be a squirrel. / And chances are his name is Stu." Smith's multimedia art, rendered in oils, pen and ink, paper collage, and digital media, matches the playful, heartfelt text, offering images of the unnamed protagonist venturing out into the neighborhood, where colorful skyscrapers tower overhead. Encounters with an odd, beaked beast, a worried bug (whose friend Stu is missing), and "a stone / striped like a spiderweb or maybe a brain" add whimsy. Closing scenes affirm this beloved child's place in the world: "Tomorrow most likely / will be a great day / because you are in it, // and" (readers will be relieved to learn) "Stu is okay."A pleaser most likely. (Picture book. 3-7)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

On the title page of this meditation by Eggers (Her Right Foot), a child is seen lying in bed, hands folded expectantly. Eggers makes a small, safe promise: -Tomorrow most likely/ there will be a sky./ And chances are it will be blue.- Line by line, the possibilities grow as Smith (Grandpa Green) shows the boy, a child of color, waking, finding breakfast, and exploring city streets in a canary-yellow fedora. Spreads and panel sequences offer a kaleidoscope of sprightly colors and textures: thick paint-stroke layers, sponging, bits of collage. The soothing repetition of -tomorrow most likely- provides an ostinato for quirky, tongue-in-cheek observations (-There will be a squirrel/ And chances are his name is Stu-). The litany ends with an affirmation: -Tomorrow most likely/ will be a great day/ because you are in it.- Occasionally, Eggers-s vision of childhood experiences seems driven more by rhyme scheme than close observation (-You-ll hear something odd..../ You-ll meet Cousin Todd-). Books about outside exploration in the countryside abound. Here, the urban setting gives city kids a poem that belongs to them. Ages 3-5. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Apr.)