King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood (1985) is a visual spectacle that earned a Caldecott honor. The text is simple and repetitive; it’s the illustrations that are a challenge. Don Wood’s imagination turns this simple story into a feast for the eyes. A young page cries for help in getting his king out of the bathtub and several elaborately dressed people come to the rescue: a knight, the queen, the duke, and members of the court. None are successful. Instead, they end up in the tub with the king. And the tub is the site of battle, lunch, fishing, and dancing. Words don’t do justice to Wood’s pictures of the bathtub. Readers need to see for themselves - find out, in the end, the obvious solution to the problem.
