Charlie always does the same things every morning; he feels that if he doesn't, something terrible will happen. He hops out of bed, 'like a flea', then balances his toast on his nose, waters his plants in a straight row, and 'walks once around the fire hydrant on the way to market...and always on the same side of the old oak tree.' At night, he checks under the bed and lines up his toys in a neat row. This routine is so ingrained into his daily life that he doesn't consider doing anything else. Each night when he is in bed he remembers that everything had gone well that day because he had followed the rules. Then one morning the phone rings, his friend Hans is in trouble, and the other animals are calling for Charlie's help. Off he goes, only having done part of his routine, and he is so set on helping that he can't go back. Oh help! What will happen now? What happens is that Charlie is the one of his animal friends who knows how to rescue Hans from the pipe he has got stuck in, and soon he and his chums are playing happily all day. That night his message to himself is: 'Forgot everything today, but things turned out okay.' Lovely pictures of a worried Charlie and all his friends combined with a simple story with elements of rhyme that will appeal to many levels of concern.