Jane of the Jungle: Me...Jane by Patrick McDonnell

JANE LOVED TO BE OUTSIDE.

ONE DAY CURIOUS JANE WONDERED WHERE EGGS CAME FROM.

SO SHE SNUCK INTO GRANDMA NUTT'S CHICKEN COOP.

SHE STAYED VERY STILL.... AND OBSERVED THE MIRACLE.

IT WAS A MAGICAL WORLD, FULL OF JOY AND WONDER AND SHE FELT VERY MUCH A PART OF IT

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In Patrick McDonnell's just published Me . . . Jane Little, Brown, 2011), this nature-loving Jane is, of course, our Jane Goodall, whose landmark studies of chimps and gorillas have broadened our understanding of primate life.

In McDonnell's soft, unassuming little vignettes, we see the young Jane with her cherished toy chimp Jubilee (who comes to life when alone outside with Jane), climbing her favorite tree ("Beech") and with cheek pressed to the trunk, dreaming of all she wants to see, inspecting birds' nests, watching squirrels and the barnyard animals, and reading all the books she can get, even Tarzan of the Apes, and dreaming of being that Jane and living in her jungle. It is her passion and joy to learn all she can.

And then McDonnell shows little Jane, climbing into bed at home with Jubilee beside her, the stars outside her window...

AND FALLING ASLEEP...

TO WAKE ONE DAY TO HER DREAM COME TRUE.

And with the turn of a page, rising from a camp cot inside her tent, is the grown-up Jane, signature ponytail in place and her studies behind her, ready to begin her historic life's work where she always longed to be.

McDonnell's previous picture books, such as Hug Time, are pleasant, popular works, a touch sentimental, but with this first venture into nonfiction, he hits one over the fence. Yes, lovable as it is, with little Jane enjoying a walk in the woods hand-in-hand with the come-to-life Jubilee, this one is pitch perfect, capturing the essence of Goodall, a person for whom nature and its creatures are infinitely fascinating and worthy of our respectful attention, in a way young children will absolutely get. Patrick McDonnell deserves all the starred reviews in Kirkus, Horn Book, School Library Journal, and Booklist that he garnered for this one, with its wonderful photos from Jane's childhood (especially Jane with the real Jubilee) which show that, to paraphrase the poet, the child is mother of the scientist!

With "A Message from Jane" in its brief appendix, Me . . . Jane is a rare early childhood biography, a staple for Earth Day activities and for the every nonfiction shelf.

Separate Peace: The Betrayal of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird

I thought I had left danger behind when I'd fled the Isle of Bute, but I seemed to have leaped from the cauldron into the fire. In Rothesay they'd wanted to string me up for being in league with the Devil, but here in Kilmacolm you could be hanged for trying to be too close to God.

Why can't I be just ordinary? I wanted to cry out loud. Why does all this happen to me?

When her ill-tempered Granny, the midwife and herbal healer for Scalpsie Bay, is stopped from using folk medicine on a sickly newborn, her warnings are taken as curses and when the child dies, his well-to-do parents accuse her of witchcraft, a capital crime in late 17th century Scotland. Sixteen-year-old orphaned Maggie Blair is also accused by the false testimony of the farmer's servant girl Annie, and only survives by the craftiness of old Tam, her Granny's scoundrel drinking companion, who gets the jailer drunk and helps her escape the island and the gallows which claim her grandmother.

Journeying many miles on foot, Maggie finally arrives at the comfortable farm of her only living relative, her father's brother Hugh Blair in Kilmacolm. Maggie is taken in, warmly by her uncle but grudgingly by his wife, who is appalled at Maggie's upbringing by her wild and slovenly Granny. But Maggie works hard, learning to read and perform the necessary household tasks, and slowly her love grows for her adopted family.

But even this relative comfort has its perils. This is "the Killing Time," in Britain, and the Blairs are staunch Covenanters, strict Calvinists whose compact has defied King Charles II's attempts to dominate them through the re-establishment of the Church of England in Scotland, and their penchant for worshiping with a renegade preacher rather than in the King's church lead to violence and ultimately her uncle's capture and imminent execution in Edinburgh.

As her uncle's family faces persecution and starvation at home, Maggie determines that she must travel to Edinburgh with gold borrowed from a sympathetic laird and attempt to buy back her uncle's freedom. Maggie enlists the loyal Tam to guide her through the dangers of the countryside, filled with local thieves and roaming soldiers for whom young girls are fair game. Thieving, begging, snaring rabbits, and staying with old confederates along the way, Tam uses his ability to charm listeners by playing his pipes to get inside the castle where two hundred Covenanters are held in the dungeon/ With a job in the kitchen, Maggie watches for her chance to help her uncle go free, not knowing whether he will unbend his desire to martyr himself even for a chance to return to his family if that chance arises.

A five-time nominee for Britain's Carnegie Award, author Katharine Laird's forthcoming The Betrayal of Maggie Blair (Houghton Mifflin, 2011) is a page-turning adventure story, an engrossing bit of historical fiction, and a coming-of-age journey for her courageous Maggie, whose instincts struggle with the hard and unforgiving religion of her adopted family, so well contrasted by the flawed kindness she finds in the outcast Tam and others whose instinctive goodness she comes to see as the true path to her own faith.

This is a remarkable novel, told by a master craftsman of the storytelling art, with historical setting and detail intrinsically interwoven with the plot. But the chief glory of The Betrayal of Maggie Blair is in its characters, unforgettable, fallible humans caught up in the religious hatred, superstition, and greed of their own time, who nevertheless 4 rise above and go beyond their setting to shape their lives for the good. As School Library Journal's reviewer says, This is a beautifully crafted novel to be savored for its symbolic language, historical atmosphere, and vivid characters.

Moving Pictures: Good Night, Little Bunny by Emily Hawkins

Little Bunny and Dusty Squirrel have played together so long that shadows are deepening across the clearing in the woods. Bunny is a little afraid of the dark and decides to head for home as fast as he can hop. But what is that shadow just ahead? Oh, it's just Freddie Fox Cub.

"IT'S GETTING DARK AND YOU SCARED ME!"

THERE'S NOTHING TO BE SCARED OF," FREDDY REPLIED. "I LOVE THE NIGHT TIME. IT'S THE BEST TIME FOR BURROWING!"

Easy for Freddie to say. He has no dark-time predators to worry about. Still, Freddy starts digging, and Little Bunny, who loves burrowing, too, can't resist the fun. Soon the dirt is flying and the moon is rising and Little Bunny forgets his fear of the dark. One by one, Little Bunny meets up with the forest's nocturnal animals: a troupe of dormice trip by, dancing, and Daisy the Deer stops by to see what's down with the two diggers. Suddenly there was a scary sound.

Silhouetted by the starry sky, Olive Owl has some not-so-sunny advice for Bunny...

"LITTLE RABBITS SHOULD NOT BE OUT ALONE AT NIGHT. WHY DON'T I SHOW YOU THE WAY HOME?"

And, of course, the worried Mother and Father Bunny are eager to welcome their little runaway home for a snuggle and finally a late but welcome bedtime.

Emily Hawkins' new Good Night, Little Bunny: A Changing-Picture Book (Changing Picture Books) offers up an amiable text with no surprises in the familiar AWOL bunny genre, but the lovely illustrations by John Butler, done in soft spring pastels chronicle this little adventure charmingly, and the "changing-picture book" format works especially well for this little tale.

The die-cut cover shows an appropriately adorable cottontail bunny, but when the book is opened to the title page the movable pages shift to show Little Bunny nicely nestled with his parents. The opening page showing Dusty and Bunny moves when the flap formed by the lift-the-flap tree in the right foreground opens to shift the scene to show Freddie Fox Cub emerging from the twilight and ready to play. Another engaging design shifts the view of Little Bunny and Daisy Deer to one of Olive Owl perched on her limb with the nighttime sky behind her.

As a board book for the very youngest, just old enough to attend to the pictures, this moving-picture format will not fail to delight, while slightly older children will especially appreciate this book's hands-on technology which puts them in charge of setting the story into motion.

Eggs-tra! Read All About It! Easter Surprise: An Eggs-traordinary Slide & Find Book

READY, STEADY,

GENTLY CRACK!

Since ancient times people have wondered at the egg--hard, rock-like, but opening to reveal a living thing in all its wonder.

Artist-designer Roger Priddy makes good use of this phenomenon of nature in his brand-new toy-and-movable-book, Easter Surprise. (St. Martin's Press, 2011). In an original take on the pull-tab and flap board book for the youngest book lovers, Priddy's illustrations actually slide open and closed as he takes a light-hearted holiday look at what the Easter egg can reveal. Inside his brightly colored Easter egg is its secret, a darling duckling looking right at the viewer as if to say, "Well, who did you expect?"

Similar slide-and-find pages pull apart to reveal an Easter bunny inside a basket, a spring lamb behind a garden gate, fluffy chicks inside their coop, and a wood deer fawn in its thicket. But the best image for the little "reader" to discover is seen as the final pages open to reveal a mirror with baby's own image looking back.

EASTER SURPRISE!

YOU'RE HERE, TOO!

Priddy's Easter Surprise. uses the element of surprise to hold the attention of youngsters while introducing baby animals and the whole idea of the soon-to-be familiar Easter Bunny and basket.A clever and engaging first Easter book for the very young.

Nonfiction That Makes the Grade: Last of the Dinosaurs: The Cretaceous Period by Thom Holmes

Prehistory is as much a product of the human mind as history. Scientists who specialize in unraveling clues of prehistoric life are called paleontologists. ... While paleontology is grounded in a study of prehistoric life, it draws on many other sciences to complete its accurate picture of the past...information from the fields of biology, zoology, geology, chemistry, meteorology, and even astrophysics.

In his sixth in the august series, The Prehistoric Earth, Last of the Dinosaurs: The Cretaceous Period (The Prehistoric Earth) (Chelsea House), author Thom Holmes calls upon his extensive knowledge to tell the dramatic story of the closing chapters in the time of the dinosaurs. Aiming for the high school reader and researcher, Holmes does not write down to his audience, making wide use of the various scientific areas which inform the study of the final eons of those fascinating reptiles.

Although no gee-whiz expose' of giant killer reptiles, Holmes' account is a fascinating one, especially in his final chapters, describing how modern reptiles and modern birds evolved from certain clades of feathered dinosaurs. Complex terms and concepts are introduced clearly and appealingly, and those terms used appear in boldface, referencing the reader to the copious glossary. Of especial value to the reader and research paper writer are the cogent summaries which conclude each chapter, a very valuable resource which makes the world of complex detail in each easily assimilated by the young scholar.

A generous series of appendices will be invaluable to the researching student--from a geologic time scale, the aforementioned glossary, which defines such integral terms as clade and taxa,, a very extensive chapter by chapter bibliography of sources, and a substantial section of "Further Reading" and "Internet Sites" of value to the reader, all supported by a full index.

The ten volumes in the fine series The Prehistoric Earth cover prehistory from Early Life: The Cambrian Period (The Prehistoric Earth) to the final title, Early Humans: The Pleistocene & Holocene Epochs (The Prehistoric Earth).

Group Goulash: Fandango Stew by David Davis

Slim rubbed his grumbling belly as he rode into the town of Skinflint. "I'm so hungry I could eat a boiled boot," he said to his grandson Luis.

"Neither of us has a peso, Abuelo," said Luis. "Looks like fandango stew for supper again."

Slim grinned.

"CHILI'S GOOD, SO IS BARBECUE.
BUT NOTHING IS BETTER THAN FANDANGO STEW."

A hard-scrabble prairie town by the name of Skinflint doesn't look to be a profitable place for panhandling for a pair of peso-less vaqueros, and the flinty-eyed sheriff collars the two as soon as they tie up their pintos. But these two saddle-weary drifter grifters know how to cook up a deal wherever they land.

"We're not aiming to lasso a handout," said Slim. "My grandson and I rode in to treat Skinflint to a pot of fandango bean stew."

The sheriff narrowed his eyes. "I never heard tell of fandango beans."

Slim pulled a small bean out of his vest pocket and held it up in the air. He sang,

"CHILI IS GOOD; SO IS BARBECUE.
BUT NOTHING'S BETTER THAN FANDANGO STEW.

And we're off in this rootin' tootin' reprise of the familiar folktale Stone Soup. Slim and Luis whip out their well-worn kettle, drop in the fandango bean, and ask to trouble the penurious citizens of Skinflint for a bit of water to start the soup boiling. Even Skinflint can spare a gallon of water or so, and besides, every nosey soul in town is already gathering to see how these loco hombres plan to make a pot of soup out of just one bean.

Silver-tongued Slim sweet-talks the storekeepers and good ladies of Skinflint into pitching in whatever they have lying around, and before you can say "traditional trickster tale," the pretty schoolteacher, the Skinflint Culture Club, and even the sheriff are vying for the chance to add their heirloom tomatoes and garden-fresh veggies to the stew. Soon there's a savory soup simmering on Main Street, enough for everyone to have more than a taste, and the good wives hang up paper lanterns, pull out their best linens and crockery, and set up tables for everyone.

The mayor burped. "Isn't this the best stew shindig you buckaroo's ever saw?"

"Before you go, tell me where I can get some of those fandango beans," said the storekeeper.

"Any bean makes a fine fandango stew," grinned Slim. "Just add generosity and kindness."

David Davis' just published Fandango Stew (Sterling, 2011) gives a spicy Southwestern zest to this timeless tale of community cooperation, an evergreen story best known in Marcia Brown's Caldecott classic Stone Soup (Aladdin Picture Books). For classroom compare-and-contrast fun, pair these two, or add one of the more recent versions by Jon J. Muth, Stone Soup (Scholastic), with its Chinese setting, or Heather Forest's lovely Stone Soup (August House).

"Hoppy Days" Are Here Again: If You're Hoppy by April Pulley Sayre

IF YOU'RE HOPPY AND YOU KNOW IT....

YOU'RE A FROG!

It's spring at last, and everyone--frogs, bunnies, crickets, and even grumpy people tired of woolly hats and darkling skies, are feeling a bit hoppy with joy.

Based on the idea and rhyme scheme of the popular nursery song "If You're Happy and You Know It," here comes April Pulley Sayre's joyfully new If You're Hoppy (Greenwillow, 2011), giving everyone an opportunity of stretch their legs and flap their wings under the spring sky. Even if there's still a bit of the winter blues hanging on, Sayre has a rhythmic rhyme to pull you out of your winter funk. If you're still feeling "growly," you might be a dog...or worse a bear, or perhaps ....

... A TUMMY OVER THERE!"

What youngster could resist singing and acting out lines like

IF YOU'RE SLOPPY AND YOU KNOW IT...

YOU'RE A HOG!

Sayre's text is buoyed by the charming and ebullient cartoon-style illustrations of Jackie Urbanovic, author-illustrator of the best-selling Duck series, which seem to bounce into motion on the page. This is a great storytime book with lots of possibilities for movement and song, for springtime and Eastertide, which, as School Library Journal says, is “sure to be a storytime staple!"

Precious Resource: The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt

"When I was a boy, my pa dowsed to earn estra money when we had a lean year. And when he put the branch in my hands for the first time, I felt a burning inside me because I had the gift, too.

Just be thankful I didn't hand the gift down to you."

Amos figured it was probably best not to tell his father that it was too late.

It is 1833 when Jake leaves his new wife Delilah for the winter's trapping, and when he returns, he finds her dead and his motherless newborn being cared for by his brother Gil and his wife Rebecca. Childless, Rebecca loves Amos from the first moment he is put in her waiting arms, and Jake, restless, born with wander foot, gladly hands Amos over her and heads out to the mountains again in the fall.

But life on the frontier is hard, especially on its women, and when Rebecca dies of fever, Amos is passed to the care of neighbor Henrietta Block, to be raised with and by her four older boys. Amos is a self-contained child, and although pained deeply by the death of the dearly loved Rebecca, thrives under Henrietta's no-nonsense care.

But when Jake returns in 1841 with a Shoshone wife, Blue Owl, it is for Amos that he has come, and Amos begins a new life, one that will lead him to a long journey on the Oregon Trail. Amos is fortunate in his succession of mothers, for Blue Owl's first act is to make him moccasins to relieve the blisters caused by his boots as they begin their long walk to St. Louis. There Jake hires out as a scout and hunter in a wagon train, and as the group makes its way west, Amos grows from a child to a young man.

Life, death, and the depth of human bonds is at the center of Kimberly Willis Holt's sweeping novel of the westward movement, spanning decades in the history of one extended family as Amos survives the trek and builds a life in Oregon. Disappointed in his first love, Amos finds a deeper love with an unlikely young woman and at last returns to his gift of finding water for his newfound community.

Holt's latest, The Water Seeker (Henry Holt, 2010), combines gritty realism with a touch of magical realism in the form of Delilah's fierce but protective spirit, appearing, not to Amos (except in her avatar form as a bird), but to the succession of mothering women who anchor his life. As Kirkus Reviews says of this book "Drawing on such diverse themes as Manifest Destiny, personal identity and cross-cultural relationships, the author has crafted a satisfying all-ages story that hosts a dazzling array of richly realized secondary characters (including Jake's scene-stealing second wife, Blue Owl) and flows as effortlessly as the Platte River."

Jennifer Willis s Holt is the author of the award-winning My Louisiana Sky and the Newbery When Zachary Beaver Came to Town (Saddleback's Focus on Reading Study Guides), as well as her popular beginning chapter Piper Reed series.

Can't Shush Suki: Suki, the Very Loud Bunny by Carmela and Steven D'Amico

EVERYONE KNOWS THAT BUNNIES ARE SOFT, FUZZY, SHY LITTLE CREATURES WHO SPEND THEIR LIVES HOPPING THROUGH FIELDS, NUZZLING VEGETABLES, AND BARELY MAKING A SOUND.

Well, meet Suki. That little ring around her left eye tells you that she's a girl bunny who likes to stand out in a crowd and who likes to make herself heard. Suki likes hopping right into mud puddles and making a big splash. She likes giving her brothers and sisters a loud wake-up call in the early morning, and following butterflies, hoping to learn the secret of fluttering above the ground. Even Momma's stern warning that she's had just about enough of Suki's exuberant noise for one day doesn't quash her free spirit, despite her apology and temporary intentions to be a good and quiet little bunny.

But adventure calls, and when brother Mickey is too timid to take off across the field on a carrot expedition, Suki sets off on her own. This little runaway bunny has a wonderful time out in the open until she spots something long and pointed, orange and yummy just ahead. Ooops! In her excitement, Suki fails to notice that that tempting carrot is the bait in a box-and-stick deadfall trap, and only Suki's powerful hops unbox her and save her from capture. Suddenly, Suki wishes she were curled up quiet and safe in Momma's burrow like Mickey. And Suki still has that one well-honed asset:

"MOMMIE!"

Carmela and Steven D'Amico's latest, Suki, The Very Loud Bunny (Dutton, 2011) is proof that a well-loved premise can always prosper in the hands of a skilled practicioners. Carmela D'Amico, creator of the popular Ella the Elephant books, creates just the right amount of danger and suspense in this tale of the little adventurer in the tradition of the timeless Peter, and Steven D'Amico's soft shapes and skillful use of color make this story a charming read. Pair it with the Caldecott-winning Kevin Henkes' newest bunny tale in this same genre, Little White Rabbit, (Greenwillow, 2011) (see my recent review here) for a pair of bedtime bunny stories that bring it all home, right where all little bunnies should be at bedtime.

A Thing with Feathers: Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

So my father came home with his lunch pail in his hand and a bandage on his face and the last check he would ever see from Culross Lumber, and he looked at my mother and said, "Don't you say a thing." Mom jumped up from the table and brought over the plate she'd been keeping warm in the oven.

"It's not all dried out, is it?" he said.

"I don't think so,' Mom said.

"You don't think so," he said, and reached for the ketchup. He smeared it all over his meat loaf. Took a red bite. "We're moving," he said. "To Maysville. Upstate." Another red bite. Ballard Paper Mill has a job and Ernie Eco says he can get me in."

Ernie Eco," said my mother quietly.

"So it will begin all over again. The bars, gone all night, coming home when you're--"

"Which one of your sons will it be this time?" my mother said.

My father looked at me.

In Doug Swietock's own words, his father is a jerk, his oldest brother, somewhere in Vietnam, is an unwelcome subject, his older brother Chris, who steals his only joy, his autographed Joe Pepitone cap, is a jerk, and, as he ruefully admits to himself, he's well on his way to becoming one himself. Stuck in a tiny bedroom with his abusive brother in a house he names "The Dump," "stupid Maysville" has no promise for Doug, and his defensive attitude gets him in hot water at school right away.

But Maysville has its own promise, in the form of an understanding librarian who shows him the town's chief claim to fame, a first edition of Audubon's Birds of America. Doug is arrested by the plate on view, the Arctic Tern, and he feels a sudden connection to the bird and an unexpected urge to draw it himself, which Mr. Powell encourages. A chance meeting with a girl, Lil Spicer, brings a deepening friendship and a job as Saturday delivery boy for Spicer's Deli.

As Doug experiences developing relationships with the customers he sees each Saturday, his confidence grows, helping him to accept the encouragement of teachers at Maysville Junior High, where he overcomes his reading problem and discovers his abilities in math and science. Despite the open cruelty of his father, who has his chest tattooed with "Mama's Baby" for backing up his abused mother, Doug begins to see that there are better things ahead for him than following his father's path.

In Maysville there are a rush of personalities and experiences--the class study of Jane Eyre, Mrs. Windemere, the crusty old playwright who is turning the novel into a stage play and shares her weekly carton of ice cream with him, Mr. Ballard, the town's chief employer and beneficent dictator, whose summer picnic baseball trivia quiz Doug wins and who makes him a sort of protege, Mr. Powell, who introduces him to the meaning as well as the composition of art, even the coming Apollo moon landing which, with Audubon's birds, becomes the novel's central symbol.

Newbery author Gary Schmidt (for his companion book The Wednesday Wars) almost overloads this novel with the events and characters which together move Doug Swietock from proto-loser to winner, some of them bordering on the improbable, but which Schmidt ties together so compellingly that they seem improbably inevitable. Character and setting are so interwoven that the overlapping strands of plot build to a conclusion which leaves Doug Swietock grounded in a hard reality but one still with room for hope, okay for now.

A moving story which is hard to put down and harder to forget. Gary Schmidt's Okay for Now (Clarion, 2011) is forthcoming April 5.

Break Out the Doilies: Fancy Nancy's Marvelous Mother's Day Brunch by Jane O'Connor

SHHHH! My mom is sleeping late because today is a special occasion An occasion is a fancy way to say it's an important day!

And Mrs. Clancy is one lucky mom. Nancy and her dad have a big morning in the works--a brunch (that's a fancy meal that's half-breakfast and half-lunch) with waffles topped with whipped cream and blueberries. But of course, a Fancy Nancy production also comes with handmade cards with glitter, fresh-picked backyard flowers, a Nancy-created tiara spelling out M-O-M, a tiered server for the finger foods, and a silver-covered breakfast tray with all the deluxe trimmings:

My mom never has any doilies, so it's fortunate (that's fancy for lucky) that I always have some on hand. And I will tie the napkin with a velvet ribbon.

Nancy has everything planned down to the minute when the unforeseen occurs. Mom wakes and wanders downstairs yawning in her rumpled pjs to see what's afoot in the kitchen. Can Dad escort her out before the surprise is spoiled?

In the already New York Times best-selling Fancy Nancy's Marvelous Mother's Day Brunch,(Harper Festival, 2011) the peerless team of Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser have another winner in their newest holiday lift-the-flap book. Important elements of the plot are hidden by flaps well integrated into the illustrations and plot, with Nancy's stash of fancy stuff behind the door of her beside table, her ribbons and glitter in her treasure chest, her sleepy mom just outside the kitchen door, and even some yucky critters under the rock in the backyard where her little sister looks as Nancy and Dad pick a bouquet from the garden.

It's another fine fancied-up occasion with the endearing Clancy family, which pairs well as a springtime gift with last year's delightful and again best-selling Fancy Nancy's Elegant Easter for fans of the Fancy Nancy series.

Wombat Wanders: Diary of a Baby Wombat by Jackie French

MONDAY, EARLY MORNING: Slept. LATE MORNING: Slept. Woke up. On top of Mom. Bounce! Mom decided it was time to PLAY...OUTSIDE!

What is a toddler wombat to do? It's afternoon; he's full of energy, but Mom says take it outside, please. Luckily the little wombat finds a playmate, a dimpled human toddler who shares his water hose, his sandbox, his bottle, and agreeably sets out to help Little Wombat dig himself a bigger hole.

FRIDAY MORNING: Found a GIANT hole. (The toddler's front door) SATURDAY MORNING: Somebody stole our hole! (The front door is closed!) Mom says we'll dig the best hole EVER!

And they do, a hole that comes up right under the house and right inside his friend's bedroom-- a cozy place for tired tots to catch a nap!

In Jackie French's Diary of a BABY Wombat (Clarion, 2010), the latest of her Wombat books which began with French's delightful Diary of a Wombat and continued with its nonfiction companion volume How to Scratch a Wombat: Where to Find It . . . What to Feed It . . . Why It Sleeps All Day, illustrator Bruce Whatley again whips up just the right wombats for this decidely droll addition to the daily adventures of a diary-devoted marsupial from Down Under, sure to make youngsters laugh.

A Word With You: Thirteen Words by Lemony Snicket

THE BIRD WAS DESPONDENT.

IN FACT, SO SAD THAT SHE HOPS OFF THE TABLE TO LOOK FOR SOMETHING TO CHEER HER UP.

13 Words (Harper, 2010) reads like a Freudian exercise in word associations, delivered in a stream-of-consciousness text as filtered through the brain of Daniel Handler, a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, author of the best-selling A Series of Unfortunate Events, illustrated as if in an impressionistic dream state by the vivid paintings of Maira Kalman.

The product is an intensely strange and creative outing which ably illustrates not only the literal meaning, but the feelings invoked by Snicket's thirteen words: bird, despondent, cake, dog, busy, convertible, goat, hat, haberdashery, scarlet, baby, panache, and mezzo-soprano. The plot, if this quirky picture book can be said to have one, involves a royal blue bird with a royal case of the blues, progressively lightened by the presence of mood-enhancing cakes, and a witty and well-intentioned dog who distracts the moody blue bird with the sweet snack:

"THAT HIT THE SPOT!" SAYS THE DOG, "BUT NOW I THINK YOU WOULD BETTER GET BUSY."

And the bird is off for a ride in a convertible to select a hat at a haberdashery with a scarlet door run by a baby (of course!). The hats are varied--a deerstalker a la Sherlock, a scarlet fez, a Beefeater's tall fur, and a spiffy black top hat--with plenty of panache. Dog and bird are pleased with their hats, but all is forgotten when a mezzo-soprano (why not?) walks in with something tied up in a box--more cake! "HOW WAS YOUR DAY?" she inquires as if they were old friends. It's obviously time for more cake.

ALTHOUGH THE BIRD, TO TELL THE TRUTH, IS STILL A BIT DESPONDENT.

It's a combination of sly wordplay and pure Snicketry of the sort that sets grownups wondering and that most children love. Kalman's illustrations here are choice and altogether playful, combining unlikely colors such as buttery yellow and pink, and keeping the quirky story moving through this unusual word list. Although an example of the picture book genre, this one lends itself well to the sort of writing exercise teachers love in which students compose a story from a series of disparate words. For another sample of Kalman's genius, see her loving tribute to American democracy, And the Pursuit of Happiness.

Don't Count on It! No Sleep for the Sheep by Karen Beaumont

In the big red barn on the farm, on the farm, in the big red barn on the farm... A sheep fell asleep in the big red barn, in the big red barn on the farm.

Sheep is ready to sleep, teddy bear under his arm, and he is not counting on helping anyone else get to sleep tonight. Settled down in the fresh hay in a comfy stall, with only by a tiny yellow chick for a roommate, sheep is already snoring away soundly when he is disturbed by a dissonant sound that blasts him out of his somnolent state:

Then there came a loud QUACK at the door, at the door, and the sheep couldn't sleep any more.

Disgruntled, the sheep staggers sleepily to the door and escorts the duck to the stall with whispered instructions:

"Go to sleep" said the sheep, to the duck at the door. "And please don't QUACK any more!"

Even the teddy bear looks grumpy as the disheveled sheep, the duck, and the chick resettle themselves in the stall for what sheep obviously hopes will at last be undisturbed slumber. But in the best tradition of the venerable cumulative tale, this dream is not to be. Sheep is constantly roused from his snores by a succession of supposedly sleepless animals--a goat, pig, a cow, and as horse--who Baa!, Oink!, Moo!, and Neigh! their way in to seek a snooze with Sheep in the increasingly snugger stall, with Chick constantly forced to clamber atop the pile to avoid being squashed. With the huge horse hogging half the sleeping space, there is definitely no room in the stable!

"Shhhh! Not a peep! Go to sleep!" said the sheep.

But there's ONE more farm animal who hasn't yet gotten the message, whose identity is hinted at by the light of dawn glimpsed through the window as the heap of animals finally drifts off to sleep together:

"COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOO!"

In Karen Beaumont's forthcoming No Sleep for the Sheep! (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011), sheep attempts to sleep in but chick gets the last word, (a PEEP!), in a inventive reworking of the traditional always-room-for-one-more premise. As always, Beaumont's verses are so rhythmical that young listeners will start joining in on the irresistible repetition as sheep issues his orders to each animal in turn.

But Beaumont's text virtually takes off when paired with Jackie Urbanovic's comic brown pencil and watercolor illustrations, which add immeasurably to the effect. Even the teddy, eyes always shut, has a role. and sheep's facial expressions are priceless as he is blasted from his slumbers by the pig and hugely hugged by the horse. Kids will gleefully pick up on the clever visual device by which Urbanovic telegraphs the identity of each approaching midnight visitor to the barn, even as each time sheep settles down to what he believes will finally be a good night's sleep. Both Beaumont (I Like Myself!, and I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! (Ala Notable Children's Books. Younger Readers (Awards))) and Jackie Urbanovic (Duck at the Door and sequels) are no strangers to best-sellerdom, and their No Sleep for the Sheep! looks like it's got all the right stuff to keep its readers wide awake and calling for more from this delightful duo!