Parents go out for the evening to opera (Madame Butterfly?). The child(ren) cope(s) with a babysitter. I think the babysitter is referred to as the onion lady and she wears many layers of clothes?? circa 1970’s.
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
I have no idea about the onions, but I did find this about babysitting and the opera:
From the Bulletin of the Centre for Children’s Books:
“Orgel, Doris. The Uproar; illus. by Anita Lobel. McGraw-Hill, 1970. 35p.
A picture book that combines a small boy’s imaginative dreams and the
M mild humor of a situation based on a misunderstood word. When Saul Laurence’s mother kissed him goodnight, she said she was going to the opera
house to see Madame Butterfly. “Uproar” house, he thought she said, and
then (after an anti-babysitter incident) he dreams of Madame Butterfly
flying him to the Uproar House, where he is the star performer at noises.
His dream ends with the return of his parents, who report that it was a
wonderful opera. “
I think The Uproar must be your book–here’s the onion.
From Kirkus Reviews:
“Fleeting, phantomlike dreams spun on a thin thread of misconception: Saul Laurence thinks his mother and father are going to see Madame Butterfly in an “”uproar.”” Partly to escape from babysitter Mrs. Onion (she peels off layers of clothing), and her offensive rendition of “”Now I lay me down to sleep,”” he dreams up a fairy godmother Madame Butterfly who wafts him to a Lincoln Centric opera house where a transformed Mrs. Onion performs like a duck…”
i would title this “new babysitter, parents go to opera” bc i am not sure about the babysitter character at all. that might even be a different book. i feel like it was the same book, but that was about 40 years ago. any ideas??