Boo-Boo Birdie: Uh-Oh, Dodo! by Jennifer Satler

DODO LOVES TO WALK WITH HIS MAMA.

TODAY THEY ARE GOING SOMEPLACE SPECIAL.

Little Dodo has enthusiasm going for him.  Now if he can just get his long, double-jointed legs going, too.

Dodo thinks even his toes are talented, but absorbed in the study of his twinkling toes, he walks right into his mother's tail feathers and tips back onto his own bottom.

UH-OH, DODO!

The trek does not take a turn for the better, as Dodo's slightly-off-key singing draws, not cheers, but a shushing from the nesting mother birds in the trees. Spotting some smooth oval rocks near the trail, he tries to grab them for his rock collection, but the "rocks" (napping turtles) fail to co-operate with the collection plan. Uh-oh!

Dodo blunders into another unfortunate encounter, as a potential new friend turns out to be a potent skunk! BIG Boo-Boo! Dodo runs for comfort toward the nearest set of avian legs. But they're not Mama's legs. They belong to a less-than-thrilled ostrich! Luckily, Mama is nearby and all's soon righted again, as Mama takes a firm lead to get this hike back on track. There's the promised something special ahead, and Mama is determined that Dodo is going to get there to see it before sunset!

Jennifer Sattler's Uh-Oh, Dodo! (Boyd's Mill, 2013) has a lovable bumbling baby dodo, a well-motivated mama, and a surprise comic character, a tag-along green grasshopper, who threatens to steal the show on every page, finally hitching a ride on Dodo's head and holding his eyes shut to protect him from further distractions along the trail. At last the three reach the top of the hill to see a breathtaking view of the ocean beyond. Sattler's text is minimalist, but her illustrations are bright, filling the pages with what has to be the most adorable dodo in childrens' literature, and her recurring refrain, UH-OH, DODO! will have kids responding merrily all the way. And like all such tales should, it ends in a sort of bedtime for baby, as the tuckered out tot hitches a ride on Mama's soft feathery back for the return trip, grasshopper and all.  "A charming, cozy read-aloud with lots of visual interest," says Kirkus Reviews.

Jennifer Sattler's books include Sylvie, Chick 'n' Pug, Chick 'n' Pug Meet the Dude, and Pig Kahuna.

Pardon? Mary Wrightly So Politely by Shirin Yim Bridges

MARY WRIGHTLY WAS A GOOD, POLITE LITTLE GIRL WHO SPOKE IN A SOFT VOICE. WHENEVER SHE WANTED SOMETHING, MARY WRIGHTLY SAID "PLEASE," "THANK YOU," EVEN "THANK YOU VERY MUCH."

"MARY, PLEASE SPEAK UP," SAID HER TEACHER.

For the most part, Mary's soft-spoken good manners are appreciated wherever she goes, but there are times when a girl has to try another technique.

And when Mary and her mother go shopping for a first birthday present for her little brother, she discovers that she is constantly pushed aside by more assertive shoppers.

MARY SPOTTED A TEDDY BEAR, JUST THE RIGHT THING FOR HER BABY BROTHER.

But before Mary can lay hands on that  bear, another little girl snatches it off the shelf and makes off with it. Mannerly Mary just looks around for another potential present and spots a stuffed dog on a top shelf. But before she can get her mother to go for it, it's gone to a pushy someone with longer arms.

AND THEN MARY SAW IT.

IT was a blue elephant that was perfect for her little brother, a dead ringer for the blue elephant Mary and her mom had stenciled above her brother's crib. Mary just has to get it for him.

But, alas, a lady picks ;IT up as Mary is about to reach for it. Something must be done!

At last Mary Wrightly screws her courage to the sticking point and speaks up, politely, but loudly.

""Excuse me. EXCUSE ME! THAT'S FOR MY BABY BROTHER!"SAYS MARY.

And politely but loudly work in Shirin Yim Bridges' new Mary Wrightly, So Politely (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013), as the lady graciously hands over the elephant with a appropriate apology.  Mary is that rare child to whom soft-spoken manners come naturally, but Bridges makes her point  that you don't have to be rude to be assertive. Artist Maria Monescillo's soft illustrations suit Mary's manner well, in a book which has earned starred reviews and polite raves, from both the Wall Street Journal  and The New York Times. "... A nearly perfect parable about being true to oneself in a rough-and-tumble world," says Publishers Weekly.

Mom & Pop Shop: Truck Stop by Anne Rockwell

EARLY EACH MORNING,
BEFORE THE SUN IS EVEN UP,
THE TRUCK STOP OPENS FOR BREAKFAST,
AND THE TRUCKS START PULLING IN.

But before the first 18-wheeler rolls in, Mom, Dad, and their son are already there, starting their day and getting ready to keep 'em rolling along the main highway.  The boy squeezes orange juice, Dad starts the bacon and hash browns frying, and Mom gets the coffee brewing.

Outside Uncle Murray turns on the outside lights and gets the service center lights on as well, just as the headlights of the regulars start lighting the lot with their headlights.  Sam parks his big rig, gets Uncle Murray to check all this tires, and fills up with coffee and eggs over easy. Maisie's Milk Tanker rolls in, followed by Diligent Dan's Moving Van, who fill up their tanks at the pumps and their tummies at the counter.

As the sun lights up the front windows, in comes a flatbed hauler and Pete & Priscilla's Tow Truck.  The regulars are all there, except for Green Gus, the little battered pickup and his driver, who usually start the day at the family's diner counter.

Still wondering about Gus, the boy runs out to meet the Yellow Bus, which makes its special stop out front to pick him up for school.

ON THE OLD BLACKTOP ROAD THROUGH THE WOODS, I SUDDENLY SEE GREEN GUS, PARKED ALL ALONE ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD!

"PLEASE CALL THE TRUCK STOP AND SAY I'VE FOUND GUS!" I ASK THE BUS DRIVER.

It looks like Pete & Priscilla's Tow Truck will be making its first run of the day right away, the boy thinks, as he settles back into his seat with a sense of a job well done. After all, Gus is a regular, and even if the boy is on his way to school, it's still his job to take care of him when he needs the truck stop to help.

Anne Rockwell, a famed veteran writer with a gazillion books going back over decades under her belt, establishes a wonderfully warm family feeling in her latest, Truck Stop (Viking, 2013). For this kid, the family shop is his home, a place where his is an important job, part of the on-the-road community that they serve.  There is a strong pride and sense of place in Rockwell's setting that makes this homey business more than a mere gas-and-go stop on the long highway.  Artist Melissa Iwai's solidly soft and rounded illustrations add a just-right heartland flavor to this look into the life of a small mom-and-pop place which plays its part in what keeps the business of life rolling.

Turning the Tables: How Martha Saved Her Parents From Green Beans by David LaRochelle

EVERY TUESDAY EVENING MARTHA'S FAMILY HAD GREEN BEANS FOR DINNER.

EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT MARTHA WAS LEFT ALONE AT THE TABLE, STARING AT A PLATE OF GREEN BEANS THAT SHE WOULDN'T EAT.

No matter that Martha's parents tell her repeatedly that green beans are chock full of vitamins. No matter than she spends every Tuesday evening in the kitchen staring at green beans growing colder and limper, the strings curling loose along their sides, congealing on her plate, while her parents watch TV.

Martha just can't eat those green beans.  They're BAD!

The resident veggie police are at their wits' end. Martha won't change her mind.

And, it seems, she has good reason.  One day the green beans up and prove Martha's character analysis correct.  A gang of muchtachioed desperado green beans appears, giant green meanies with gunbelts and hardened beady black eyes, bent on revenge for all those who had massacred their kind. They take over the town and take hostage anyone who had ever said "EAT THOSE GREEN BEANS OR ELSE!"

Martha is apparently the only citizen in the clear. She can honestly claim never to have endangered a single green bean.

At first a life free of the threat of green beans seems a boon. Martha stays up past bedtime, at liberty to munch all the chocolate chip cookies in the box. But still, they're her parents, and slowly it dawns on Margaret that she's the only one who can rescue her family from languishing in legume captivity forever. It's a true test of filial love.

But what can Martha DO to make the green beans disappear?

It's eat or be eaten, in David LaRochelle's  How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans (Dial Books, 2013). As a victim of the childhood green bean wars myself, I shared picky Margaret's pain, left at the table with unwanted green beans growing less appetizing every second before my eyes. But like most of us, Martha learns to like, or at least tolerate, the loathsome legume in the name of family unity in a jolly little veggie tale, agreeably illustrated in clever comic style by Mark Fearing. School Library Journal serves up its own savory review, saying "With a wacky premise and a perfect tone, this saga is sure to please vegetable haters everywhere."

Pair this green bean epicurean epic with George McClements' little homily on the peas-full dinner table, Night of the Veggie Monster. (See my review here.)

Toilet Triumph: Dinosaur Vs. The Potty by Bob Shea

I DON'T NEED TO USE THE POTTY.

ROAR!

Anyone who has ever known a toddler who insists that he does not have to visit the potty knows what Dinosaur is up to here. He'll do everything and anything and go almost anywhere--except to the loo!

"Roar, Roar, Roar," he shouts as he mixes and chugs a whole pitcher of lemonade.  Does he have to go now?  NOPE! 

Dinosaur takes on all kinds of watery challenges to prove his anti-potty prowess. Splash in the sprinkler? Gulp three, count 'em, THREE juice boxes with lunch? Hose down his whale? Spray everything in sight? You would think he'd have to lurch toward the loo, jump for the john, and leap for the lavatory.

NOOOOOOO!!

Roaring in triumph, Dinosaur stomps in the leftover puddles, water going everywhere. Dinosaur is winning the battle of the toilet. Or is he?

That impromptu triumphant ballet is beginning to look a lot like a...

POTTY DANCE?

Sorry, show's over, folks. Gotta GO!

Will he make it to the little boys' room in time to avoid potty disaster? Bob Shea's Dinosaur vs. the Potty (Board Book) (Hyperion, 2012), all dressed up in a fresh new board book format, will have even hardcore potty resisters giggling and roaring along at Dinosaur's avoidance of the inevitable. Little Dinosaur, drawn up in Shea's signature comic style in black-line and bright colors, sets the scene for for an impending near miss. Will the potty win?  (Doesn't it always?) Preschoolers will empathize with this anti-potty protagonist even as they root for him to win the run for the restroom derby.

Bob Shea's other delightful Dinosaur books include Dinosaur vs. Bedtime, Dinosaur vs. Santa, (see my review here) and Dinosaur vs. the Library.

Fear of Flying: Let's Go, Hugo! by Angela Dominguez

HUGO WAS A BIT DIFFERENT.

HE PREFERRED WALKING TO FLYING.

The sidewalks of Paris are said to be delightful. Being a boulevardier has its charms. But Hugo is a bird, and strolling around his verdant park is, after all, rather strange for for a bird.

Although he admires the distant Eiffel Tower, Hugo seems content to build models of it on the grass under a tree, near his burrow. (Yes, Hugo is a burrowing bird!)

And then one day Lulu notices him. Lulu is a lovely little bird who can see the famous landmark from the treetop and invites him to fly with her to the Eiffel Tower .

Hugo cannot admit that he is afraid to try to fly, so instead he invites Lulu for a stroll through the park.  The two hit if off, but Hugh is hard put to come up with reasons why he cannot fly with Lulu to the Tower. His ploys work at first: his feathers need to dry, he says, and then he points out, that it seems to be getting too dark to fly. Lulu seems disappointed and takes her leave as she takes to her wings.

HUGO'S HEART SANK. HE'D NEVER SEE THE EIFFEL TOWER NOW!

WHAT IF HE NEVER SAW LULU AGAIN EITHER!

Luckily, Hugo meets a mentor, an night owl named Bernard, and confesses his fears of flying.

"EVERYONE IS AFRAID OF SOMETHING," Bernard said.

Hugh is encouraged by Bernard's offer to help him practice his liftoff, and when Lulu returns, he's still a bit fearful, but ready to try his wings in a flight to the Tower.

In her first book, Let's Go, Hugo! (Dial Books, 2013), artist-illustrator Angela Dominguez illuminates this light story of first-time fears conquered with lovely, light-as-a-feather tissue-paper collage illustrations, as Hugo and Lulu lift off together for their next adventure. "What sets this story apart...is Dominguez's delightful ink and tissue paper collages....A charming little ode to overcoming fear," says Booklist.

Getting An Earful: Listen, Buddy by Helen Lester and Lynn Munsinger

BUDDY HAD BEAUTIFUL BIG EARS.

IT DIDN'T MATTER.

WHEN BUDDY'S PARENTS SENT HIM TO THE VEGETABLE STAND TO GET A BASKET OF SQUASH, HE CAME HOME WITH A BASKET OF WASH.

It's not the hardware; it's the software. His brain doesn't seem to  be processing the transmission from Buddy's big ears. When sent for fifteen tomatoes, he returns with fifty potatoes. His dad gets a hen when he asks for a pen. His mom wants a slice of bread to make breakfast toast. What she gets is a freshly sawed slice of bed. His parents try everything--yelling, whispering, lecturing. But all their messages seem to get scrambled somewhere in their boy's brain.

Then they decide to let Buddy go out on his own for a while. They have only one instruction.

"THE PATH TO THE LEFT WILL LEAD YOU AROUND THE POND AND BACK HOME. BUT THE PATH TO THE RIGHT WILL LEAD YOU TO THE CAVE OF THE SCRUFFY VARMINT.

SO BE SURE TO TAKE THE PATH TO THE LEFT."

"RIGHT?" ASKED BUDDY.

"LEFT!" SAID HIS PARENTS.

"RIGHT!" SAID BUDDY.

Of course, everyone knows where this one is going except the befuddled Buddy. Left is right is too much for Buddy's brain to sort out, and he soon finds himself on the path to the dreaded Scruffy Varmint's slatternly cave. He comes upon the Varmint, who is thinking of making a big pot of soup and glad to see a little errand boy appear at his door. He dispatches Buddy to fetch firewood, get five pinches of salt and some flour, the ever popular fifteen tomatoes, and a load of squash, with predictable results from Buddy, But when he orders Buddy to put the soup on the fire and Buddy pours the whole mess, including a load of dirty laundry, on the fire, the Varmint decides to take over the soup-making himself.

"I WILL HAVE SOUP!  BUNNYRABBIT SOUP,  THE BUNNYRABBIT WHO NEVER LISTENS!"

By the creators of such hits as Hooway for Wodney Wat;   Wodney Wat's Wobot, and Tacky the Penguin and its many sequels, Helen Lester's and Lynn Munsinger's cute little cautionary tale, Listen, Buddy (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), all dressed up in a new hardback reissue, is a humorous homily on learning to listen for youngsters who tune out their parents' admonitions. Munsinger's illustrations of this little long-eared bunny and his doting but discouraged parents add just the right humor to this jolly little lesson in the Peter Rabbit tradition.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Man of Steel Warner Brothers

"You have to keep this side of yourself a secret."

"What was I supposed to do? Let them die?"

"Maybe."

"You have to decide what kind of man you want to be, son. Whoever that man is, he is going to change the world."

Warner Brothers Man of Steel is a full-length prequel to all other Superman films, devoting its two-plus hours to the backstory of the caped crusader who leaped skyscrapers in a single bound as the star of DC Comics, numerous short subject serials, television shows, and those many movies over his 80-year lifespan as a cultural hero.

Ever since Achilles, Ulysses, Jason, Beowulf, and King Arthur strapped on their broadswords and set out to battle whatever the current avatar of evil might have been, people have loved their super heroes.  And Director Zach Snyder and screenplay writer Christopher Nolan check all the classic hero boxes here, beginning with a special birth as Kal-El, the only naturally born baby in planet Krypton's recent history, cast forth, Moses-like, in a protective spacepod as an ecological Armageddon destroys his parents and planet.  Taken in and guided by wise surrogate parents, suffering from the burden of his abilities (x-ray vision and super hearing can be a drag in school), scorned by the usual brainless peers, an itinerant laborer/knight errant, drifting from one menial job to another, saving the odd victim, while coming to grips with the meaning of his unusual powers, Kal/Clark follows a familiar path. As a oil rig roustabout, Clark Kent saves the crew from an massive explosion and floats, in crucifixion pose deep in the ocean, (presumably breathing underwater in a nod to Rick Riordan's demigod Percy Jackson) long enough to escape being identified as the savior who walked through fire.

Enter perky Lois Lane, this time a sturdy blonde, a young reporter who accidentally witnesses another superhuman rescue. Lane's editor seems to believe her story but refuses to print it, which only goads Lois to use her journalistic skills to track down the illusive hero and confront him with her research going back to the teenaged Clark's rescue of a submerged school bus and with it the beefy bully who tormented him back in Kansas.

Meanwhile, back in Krypton, or rather, frozen aboard a Kryptonian prison spacecraft, General Zod zooms in on Earth as a possible new Eden for the homeless Kryptonian culture. And poor Clark, who possesses all the corporate DNA of Krypton in his body, is the lure which leads Zod and his minions to Earth's atmosphere. Blacking out the worldwide grid, Zod takes over everyone's electronic devices, from home TVs to iPhones, with his ominous message:

YOU  ARE NOT ALONE!

Having received The Charge from his foster father, the mature Clark Kent ultimately has to make The Choice, between the survival of  as-yet unborn Kryptonians (Zod makes it clear they take no prisoners) or the survival of the humans on his adopted planet.  Clark the drifter is reborn as Superman the superhero savior.

For pre-teens who love seemingly-never-ending explosions and superhuman fights to the death, the last third of the movie will be perfect. For the rest of the moviegoers, it's a time to put in earplugs and zone out until the dust settles and Clark and Lois fall into each other's arms. Bold hearts do win fair maidens--at the old cineplex anyway, and The Kiss promises a sequel to this prequel.

Personally, I miss the old Superman from the last century--the one who looked like he was having the time of his life, tossing carloads of gaggling gangsters into space and quipping while he crushed locomotives and stopped airliners dead in flight, not to mention his old nemesis, Lex Luthor, who also seemed to be having a heck of a lot more fun than the snarly Zod. Even Superman's costume is all drabbed down, his cape a dull red and his physique-modeling bodysuit a dusty gray-blue, and actor Henry Cavill is going to require advanced cosmetic restoration on the frown lines he appears to have acquired in this role. About the only real humor in the film comes in under 200 decibels in the last couple of minutes with a nice bit of camp, in which Clark dons office garb and his retro-black-rimmed glasses and is introduced as the new intern to his mentor, Lois Lane, who wryly dead-pans that subtly layered last line, "Welcome to the Planet!

It's not a bad summer film if you crave your summer portion of brain-numbing mayhem and ear-splitting volume which flattens some unfortunate city and mostly overshadows any meaningful moments. As supercritic Christopher Orr puts it, "Man of Steel" is an audacious undertaking, a stylistic and thematic mash-up of Avatar, The Matrix, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Independence Day, The Thing, Thor, and (especially) Bryan Singer's X-Men films. What is open to question—and I confess to finding myself uncharacteristically ambivalent on the subject—is whether the resulting heavyweight summer blockbuster is very much fun." (The Atlantic, June 14.)

Man of Steel  lasts two hours and twenty-three minutes and is ranked PG-13 for violence.

Going Off the Grid: Doug Unplugged by Dan Yaccarino

THIS IS DOUG. HE'S A ROBOT.

EVERY MORNING HIS PARENTS PLUG HIM IN TO FILL UP WITH LOTS AND LOTS OF FACTS.

In a way, Doug is living every kid's dream. Instead of sitting through thousands of hours of classroom time and slogging through acres of worksheets, textbooks, and tests, his parents simply plop him down in front of a mainframe and plug him in to an electronic umbilical and download all those facts straight into his head. Zap!

On the other hand, Doug feels tethered. His fond parents shuffle off every morning with their briefcases, and leave him home alone to be loaded up with facts and figures from a less-than-warm and cuddly motherboard! When he spots a pigeon on his windowsill, Doug is inspired to strap on  a personal jetpack and fly out over the city with the urban bird as tour guide.

Doug knows all sorts of facts and figures about the town, but suddenly, as he alights atop the tallest skyscraper, he sees the city differently.

THE VIEW FROM THE TOP!

HE COULD SEE EVERYTHING!

Doug sees flowers growing out of the smallest cracks and feels the cool breeze blowing over him. Then he sees something that he never could have imagined.

...SOMETHING THAT WASN'T IN HIS DOWNLOADS!

Unplugged Doug sees a boy just his size having fun at a playground. Intrigued, he rockets down and joins him on a swing, speeding down the slide, and chasing around in a game of tag. Doug suddenly realizes that what his downloads had missed was fun!

Dan Yaccarino makes novel use of the evergreen "little runaway" theme in his latest, Doug Unplugged (Alfred A. Knopf, 2013). Doug, seeing his new friend running to hug his parents, decides that he wants to try this new move on his own parental units, and this robot runaway returns home in the best tradition of the premise, all the wiser for his new experiences. Doug is a roly poly robot, a sort of Elroy Jetson in a yellow space suit, antennae on his head, with a USB port for a belly button, who will quickly engage readers who sometimes yearn to unplug and soar outside in the real world. Yaccarino's specialized style of illustration is clever and comic, clearly appealing to youngsters, with its own little life lesson on board.. Says School Library Journal, "This charming title shows the importance of balance between virtual and real-life experiences."

Odd Bird Bash: Happy Birdday, Tacky! by Helen Lester and Lynn Munsinger

FOR WEEKS GOODLY, LOVELY, ANGEL, NEATLY, AND PERFECT HAD BEEN PLANNING TACKY'S BIRDDAY.

After all, as Nice Icy Land's only official Odd Bird, Tacky's hatchday has to be as unique as he is. There's the usual birthday card writing, present picking, and fancy wrapping, keeping all the prep under wraps, of course, because this birdday has to be a big surprise.

The Nice Icy Land plans are finally set and Tacky's perniciously persnickety penguin pals go through their list:

CARDS? (Check)

SONGS? (Check)

PRESENTS? (Check)

FISHY ICE CREAM? (Check)

CAKE? (Check)

SURPRISE ENTERTAINMENT? (Check)

The surprise entertainment surprises even Tacky.  It's the divine diva Tinklewebs the Dance Queen, all the way from Iglooslavia!

"I VANT TO PERFORM FOR YOU A DENZ PEEZ!"

But the surprise entertainment turns into a dance disaster, as Ms. Tinklewebs turns her ankle (or whatever penguins have):

"MINE WEBBY! MINE BEAUDIFOOL LEFT WEBBY IS INJURED! I SHALL NEVER DENZ AGAIN! MINE CAREER IS KAPUTED! she laments loudly.

"HOW IMPERFECT," Goodly looked at Angel.

"WHAT TO DO NOW?"

But it's that odd bird Tacky whose silly flapwaddle dance keeps his own birthday festivities in Helen Lester's latest Tacky the Penguin tale, Happy Birdday, Tacky! (Tacky the Penguin) (Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt, 2013). For super silliness on ice you can't beat Tacky, that odd bird set down amongst a group of super up-tight buddies, a groovy penguin whose job it seems is to keep things cool in Nice Icy Land.  Penguins are currently hot properties, quite popular in picture book land, but author Lester and illustrator Munsinger remain the queens of the ice!

Always Room?...: Boom! Boom! Boom! by Jamie A Swenson

ONE STORMY NIGHT I JUMPED INTO BED,

SAFE WITH A BOOK AND MY TEDDY BEAR FRED.

Our little bedtime boy is fine with snuggling in his comfy bed and listening to the thunderboomer pass over. But soon it seems that he's the only one who's not frightened  by the storm.

FLASH! CRASH!....  "AROOOO!"

The boy's pup runs and jumps into his bed. Fine. Room for two, plus Fred!

Then there is a plaintive yowl from somewhere, and Kitty makes the transition, leaping into the now less roomy bed. Move over, Fred.

Kitty is soon followed by a guinea pig squealing "FEE  FEE!" and a frog with a nervous "RIBBET!"  Another flash and crash brings a parrot and a snake, squawking and hissing.

"AT LEAST YOU'RE THIN," THE BOY SAYS TO THE SNAKE.

Still, it's getting sorta snug in the boy's little bed, what with that snake coiled around them and all.

And then another boom of thunder brings...Sis, who streaks into the room and vaults right into the midst of it all ... with the inevitable results. With a creak and and a crash, the bed collapses, and all the interlopers flee, perhaps for Sis's still intact bed! Ah! Peace!

Jamie Swenson's Boom! Boom! Boom! (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2013) plays with the basic premise of the old folktale, Always Room for One More, reworked with great good humor in John Burningham's Mr. Gumpy's Outing and retold most notably in Audrey and Don Woods' Caldecott-winning The Napping House. Swenson's story has less literary pizazz but does have a pleasant rhyming text which takes on the issue of storm phobia, albeit with a main character for whom the thunder and lightning are the least of his worries.

Hold the Macaroni! Crankee Doodle by Tom Angleberger

Doodle: "I'M BORED!"

Pony: WE COULD GO TO TOWN!"

Doodle: NO WAY. I HATE GOING TO TOWN.  THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE IN TOWN.  THEY ALL RUN AROUND AND RING BELLS AND EAT PIES AND THEN THEY YELL AT EACH OTHER TO STOP RUNNING AROUND AND RINGING BELLS AND EATING PIES. THERE IS NOTHING GOOD TO DO IN TOWN.

Pony is clearly bored, too, and a day in town looks a lot better than hanging around with a cranky Yankee who harangues on and on about everything.

Pony suggests that Doodle could shop for a feather for his hat and call it macaroni--which he adds means fancy. Doodle is not convinced.

"SAYS YOU. THAT'S THE SILLIEST THING I EVER HEARD.  IT'S... MACARONI!

YOU KNOW WHAT'S FANCY?  LASAGNA.  LASAGNA IS FANCY.  LASAGNA HAS ALL THOSE RIPPLES ON IT, AND THEN IT GETS BAKED WITH CHEESE AND TOMATOES AND VEGETABLES. THEN YOU CAN EAT IT WITH SOME GARLIC BREAD.

NOW THAT'S FANCY!"

Doodle's plaint rants on and on. He doesn't like to shop! &He has too much stuff already! The new stuff always breaks. It's too far to town and, furthermore, Pony smells too terrible to ride!.   Yada Yada Yada.

It's a cranky Yankee Doodle temper tantrum.

Pony and Doodle glare at each other.

Stalemate.

Then Pony tries another approach.

"HEY! I SMELL LIKE A PONY!  AREN'T YOU THE ONE WHO IS SUPPOSED TO GIVE ME A BATH?  BUT NOOOOOOO!  

BOO HOO HOO! SNIFF. SOB. SNORT."

Tom Angleberger's and wife Cece Bell's Crankee Doodle (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2013) pits a curmudgeonly Yankee Doodle against a persistent pony desperate for a change of scene. Angleberger's narrator cleverly delineates his comic contrarian and his pony boy with the urge to shop till he drops, in dialogue that will ring familiar to parents of young shopaholics. Designed in cartoon panels with quirky characters who speak in thought balloons, this one trots along  merrily, paralleling  the back story of that inevitable trip to town that the old patriotic song describes. Hysterically and historically funny!

"A historical hoot full of goofy, eye-rolling goodness," quips Kirkus in its starred review.

The Customer Is Always Right! Down At the Dino Wash Deluxe by Tim Myers

..THIS JOB'S NO PICNIC.

YOU GOTTA KNOW THE CUSTOMERS!

NO TWO DINOSAURS ARE ALIKE.

The Dino Wash Deluxe is doing business! Dinosaurs are lined up to get their scales scrubbed shiny, and our little proprietor knows just how to keep them all happy. Ankylosaurus' many knobby protrusions require detail work. Rinsing the top of Pachycephalosaurus' big bald head necessitates a long ladder. Spinosaurus' twenty-foot-tall spines require really sudsy scrubbing and polishing. And don't even ask about all the crevices to clean on a finicky Stegosaurus!

But our little car wash manager keeps a nervous eye out for one down and dirty customer that his clients report is in town--Tyrannosaurus Rex!  He's one customer you really want to leave happy!

And then there he is, demanding the dino wash deluxe.

"GIVE ME THE WORKS" HE SNAPS.

But when our little dino scrubber comes forward with his shampoo, the T. Rex gets very testy. Could it be that this big guy is afraid of a few suds in the eye?

"IT STINGS!" HE WHIMPERS. 

How do you shampoo a Tyrannosaurus Rex? Very carefully, in Tim Myers' dandy Down at the Dino Wash Deluxe (Sterling, 2013). Myers' illustrations are big and bold and bright, with each scaly critter portrayed comically and yet authentically, with a thumbnail drawing and summary of each dinosaur appended for young dinosaur scholars. Pair this one with any of Jane Yolen's and Mark Teague's classic How Do Dinosaurs... books, such as  How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Room? for a clean sweep of a double dino treat.

"I Call My Baby My Sugar:" Mister and Lady Day: Billie Holiday and the Dog Who Loved Her by Amy Novesky

Billie Holiday loved to sing. As a girl, she sang along to her favorite songs on a borrowed gramophone.

She dreamed of being a star...

... and a star she became--the Great Lady Day.

But sometimes stars need someone to listen.
That's what friends are for.

Lady Day's dogs were her best friends of all.

Billie Holiday sang all kinds of songs, and Billie Holiday had all kinds of dogs.  She had a pocket poodle and two tiny Chihuahuas, Chiquita and Pepe. She had a long-eared beagle, a Great Dane called Gypsy, and a terrier with a name that spoofed the song "Besame Mucho" named Bessie Mae Moocho.  But her best friend was a big brown boxer called Mister.

Mister was almost always with Billie. He wore sweaters she knitted for him, and a fur coat just like hers for chilly late-night walks.  He growled when rude fans jostled to get near the star singer. He kept her company in her dressing room in ritzy night clubs, snacking on the steaks Billie ordered for him, and even waited for her in the wings when she sang on stage at Carnegie Hall.

Lady Day was famous for singing the blues.

But the sadness of her songs didn't matter to Mister.

As long as he could hear her, he was happy.

Billie Holiday's life had its good times and its bad times, but she always had Mister, who was always ready to listen to her sing.  Then, during one bad time she had to be away from her best friend for a year. That's a long time for a dog.

Would he remember her at all?

Then, there he was!

Running down the train platform, Mister leaped on Lady!

Amy Novesky's forthcoming Mister and Lady Day: Billie Holiday and the Dog Who Loved Her (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013) flows like one of Billie's easy-going jazz songs, focusing on the love and support that she found in her companion dog Mister, her most loyal and best friend.  Novesky's simple storytelling style is enhanced by Vanessa Newton's  photo-inspired period illustrations in charcoal, gouache, and collage, which appealingly portray the stylish Lady Day, glamorously gowned with her signature magnolias in her hair, and in her more informal moments cuddling barefoot on the rug with Mister, singing "Sugar, I Call My Baby My Sugar," to him. (See Billie and Mister in her dressing room here.)

"This introduction to the jazz great has tons of kid appeal," says School Library Journal..

That's MY Monster: Wilfred by Ryan Higgins

OUR STORY BEGINS IN A FARAWAY PLACE WHERE THERE ONCE LIVED A LONESOME GIANT NAMED WILFRED.

WILFRED WAS HUMONGOUS AND HAIRY.

Far, far away, in another galaxy, there may be a place where huge, humongous, hairy guys are considered hunks, but Wilfred's home town is not one of those.

Although the thing big Wilfred craves most is a friend, his planet features small, hairless people, and Wilfred is too monstrous and too hirsute for their tastes. But one small, bald boy thinks Wilfred is interesting. Wilfred is so eager to please that he does whatever the boy suggests, playing a ukulele, playing golf, even doing the boy's math homework. The boy likes the hairy giant and invites him back.

But the townspeople have another plan. They gang up and shave off Wilfred's shaggy gray hair as the price of letting him back into town. Wilfred can't find his friend, but he does find that being bald all over is chilly and retreats to the warmth of a fire in his cave. Satisfied, the townspeople use the shaggy shavings to make themselves wigs and warm, knitted sweaters.

But when the little boy goes out into the teeth of a blizzard to look for his still humongous but now hairless friend, the people realize that they have made a big, hairy mistake, in Ryan Higgins's just-published  Wilfred (Dial, 2013). When the shivering giant heroically forces himself away from his fire circle to save his friend, the folks all agree that a hairy hide can indeed hide a warm heart. A sweet story of unlikely friendship, remorse and restitution and ... ZIPPERS!

Both Sides Now: Inside Outside by Lizi Boyd

Lizi Boyd's Inside Outside (Chronicle Books, 2013) is a book that is much more than it seems at first glance.

Using brown butcher paper as her medium, Boyd opens with a plain house, a small boy seen through the window as a snowman stands guard just outside, while inside he works, intent upon planting seedlings for spring. Pictures on the wall show plants and trees which foreshadow the season to come.  The seasons change outside. as the boy moves out and then back into the house. Trees leaf out, flowers comes up and bloom, and birds appear in the trees, nesting and then feeding their babies.

Accompanied by his constant companions, a black dog and two mice who get on with their own parallel lives, unmindful of the events around them, the boy flies his kite in spring, finds a turtle in the warming pond, tends his garden, and fills his wading pool for the dog and cat to enjoy.

The scenes shift from inside to outside and back again, each move prefigured by the other, with the boy building a boat inside while sailboats float in pictures on the wall, and takes it outside to sail it on the pond while the turtle and dog watch from his beach towel. Fall comes, suggested first by the boy's paintings of autumn trees on the walls and carried outside as colored leaves float down from the trees and birds fly, fleeing south from approaching winter.

At last it is winter outside again, and the boy is seen through the windows, decorating a little evergreen inside, as snow falls on his snowman outside.

Cleverly placed die-cut rectanglar windows give little readers a chance to predict what comes next in this endlessly inventive essay on the seasons. It will take many look-throughs to take in all that is going on in Inside Outside. This seemingly simple little wordless story book has surprises and much to observe for youngsters just learning to "read" a picture book through its illustrations.

"... creative genius at work," says Kirkus Reviews.

Ready to Ribbet? Stink and the Freaky Frog Freakout by Megan McDonald

THE SHARK SNEAKED THROUGH THE WATER LIKE A SILVER STREAK.  STINK FELT SOMETHING GRAB HIS LEG.     S-S-SHARK ATTACK!!

AARGH! STINK LEAPED OUT OF THE WATER, KER-SPLASH!

THE SNEAKY SHARK WAS HIS SISTER JUDY!

"I'M A SHARK AND YOU'RE STILL A POLLIWOG. YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO PUT YOUR HEAD UNDERWATER SOME TIME, STINK!  I'M ALMOST A BARRACUDA!"

Swimming lessons are not exactly going swimmingly for Stink, stuck with his head determinedly above water, inseparable from his swim noodle, while almost-Barracuda Judy shows off, diving to the bottom of the pool for quarters. Stink can't wait to get away from the water.

But when he finds a little tree frog with three legs in the locker-room shower, Stink gets interested in frogs. Frogs show up in his bathtub, his boots, the garden hose, and even in their garage. Is it raining frogs?

To find out why the town is full of frogs, Stink's dad takes him and his friends to the local nature center for a lesson on amphibians, where a graduate student named Jasper invites them along for the annual Frog Neck Lake Frog Count--if he can pass a test on identifying frog calls. Judy even pitches in to help, Stink leaps to the head of the frog call class, and with his Frog Log clipboard and Sophie and Webster along as assistants, Stink counts croaks and  learns a lot about why, because of environmental problems, there are fewer frogs croaking in the lake but more of them sproinging in the suburbs than ever before.

Then the next morning, Stink wakes up in the middle of an exciting Spiderman dream  to find a  frog licking the freckle on his arm. Could this frog be like Peter Parker's spider?  Could it be giving Stink special frog powers?

THE FROG WAS BLUE.

THIS FROG WAS NOT NORMAL.  THIS FROG WAS A MUTANT!

AND ... THE FROG HAD LICKED STINK.  JUST LIKE THE SPIDER THAT BIT PETER PARKER!

FREAKY FROG FREAKOUT!  STINK HAD A PETER PARKER OF A SECRET!

At breakfast the raisins in Stink's cereal start to look just like dead flies.  He eats them first. Then he eats all of Judy's  dead flies, er, raisins, too.  He discovers that his tongue is long enough to touch his nose.  He has an overwhelming desire to play outside in the rain, leaping through puddles and playing in the mud.  Worms are even looking good to him. Can he be feeling his freaky frog powers?

Now Stink can't wait for the next swim lesson.  Frogs love to swim underwater, and they never need a noodle, either. Stink just knows he's going to leapfrog forward into barracuda level even before Judy!

Megan McDonald's latest, Stink and the Freaky Frog Freakout (Book #8) (Candlewick Press, 2013), has Stink & Company hopping happily into a watery world of amphibians as bossy Judy Moody's little brother Stink finds himself diving into the deeps all by himself in this eighth book in the spinoff Stink series. A little sibling rivalry (and cooperation), a bit of overcoming fears, a lot of incidental learning about amphibian environments, and Peter Reynolds' inspired black-and-white comic illustrations make this newest Stink story a winner for reluctant and beginning chapter readers and a natural for summer nature study adventures. McDonald even tucks in fun frog Creature Feature quizzes along the way so that readers take away some awesome amphibian information as well as a dozen ways to say "Ribbet!"