Parting the Waters: Chu's Day at the Beach by Neil Gaiman and Adam Rex

IT WAS A HOT DAY AND CHU AND HIS FAMILY WENT TO THE BEACH.

BUT WHEN CHU SNEEZES... BIG THINGS HAPPEN.

But, hey! No problem at the beach, right? No daisy pollen, no peppery chimichangas, no chalk dust or circus sawdust to give Chu a snoot full and set off the sneezes! Mom stretches out in the sun for a quiet beach read, and Dad wades in the almost waveless shallows. An octopus vendor hands Chu an ice cream cone. What could possibly disturb this idyllic scene?

CHU TOOK OFF HIS SUNGLASSES.

THE DAY WAS SUNNY AND BRIGHT.

CHU'S NOSE TICKLED. THE TICKLE GOT BIGGER AND BIGGER.

Ahh! AHHH! AHHHH! CHOOOOOOOOO!

Chu's sneeze creates a tsunami! The waters flow backward and then move back toward the beach, freezing into a giant wave hovering over the sand. The bedazzled beachcombers are agog. It's like looking through the aquarium glass at Sea World. The amazed fish wave at Chu and he waves back. A merpanda girl gives him a big smile, and a giant whale wails that he's stranded.

"I CAN'T GO HOME!"

The ocean is broken! There's only one thing to do. Chu HAS to sneeze again. Fast!

A seagull plucks a tail feather to tickle his nose.

AH... AHH... AHHH... Nope.

The vendor hands him a fizzy drink to fizzle his nose. Ah... Ahh...Ahhh. No way, Nose-ay.

Is the ocean really split forever?

Then a very little snail comes up with a quick idea.

"Sometimes I sneeze when I see the sun."

Chu removes his sunglasses again. Bingo!

"AAAAAH... CHOOOOOOOO!"

The sea flows back together, the sea animals rejoice at their reunion, and although there is some collateral damage to the shore (ice cream cones all around), the waters go back to where they are supposed to be as the little merpanda swims over to Chu to confess that sometimes she sneezes big time, too.

It's just a day at the beach in Neil Gaiman's latest Aw, Chu! fest, Chu's Day at the Beach (Harper-Collins, 2015). Artist Adam Rex adds his usual charmingly detailed illustrations, with a terminally cute Chu in his 1890s swimsuit and giraffe floatie, as totally befuddled as always by his superpower sneezes. Says School Library Journal, "Rex's menagerie of anthropomorphized animals, including merpandas, drawn in hyper-realistic human settings creates a humorous alternate reality that perfectly complements the plot. VERDICT A fun addition to most picture book collections."

A splashy read-aloud for the summer set, especially when paired with Chu's other sneezy-breezy adventures. (see reviews here.)

No Place Like... The House That's Your Home by Sally Lloyd-Jones

THE GIRL IS A DAUGHTER AND THE BOY IS A SON. 

AND YOU ARE A FAMILY IN THE HOUSE THAT IS YOUR HOME.

What makes a house a home? Noted author Sally Lloyd Jones lists all the things that make a home for a small child--a mommy and a daddy, pets, both dog and cat, books and toys in the children's rooms, and outdoor toys and  grassy yard in which to play ball with their puppy, ride their bikes, join with their friends to play, and a garden where the girl, bedecked in gardening boots and apron, plants flowers in front of their cozy cottage.

ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE
IN THE AIR YOU BREATHE
IN A PLACE OF YOUR OWN, IN THE WORLD
THAT IS YOUR HOME.

In Sally Lloyd-Jones' latest, The House That's Your Home (Schwartz and Wade, 2015) it is an idyllic home, portrayed in the author's gently paced, repetitive text and artist Jane Dyer's lovely, slightly retro-styled illustrations. Not all children, of course, live in a such a child-centered, picturesque craftsman cottage, with potted geraniums decorating the wide front porch. With its privileged setting, this book does not show that the house that is a home can look quite different for different families, but the author does emphasize that what makes a house a home is the family that lives inside.

Flower Girl At Last! Superlove by Charise Mericle Harper

THERE WILL BE A WEDDING AND A HAPPILY EVER AFTER!

As that month of blooming flowers and June, moon, spoon approaches, little girls of a certain age become inspired by weddings--brides in long white gowns, bridesmaids with bouquets, flower girls with rose petal baskets, and big white cakes. What's not to like about that?

In Charise Mericle Harper's Superlove (Alfred A. Knopf, 2014), her girl goes into instant wedding planning mode, titling herself Superlove, and staging her own event, a flowery garden wedding with her dolls and toy animals as guests, and her plush puppy, Mr. Mittens, and her cat, Pinky, as the betrothed.

The only problem is with the perspective bride. It seems that the blushing bride is up a tree, switching her tail and spurning her intended bridegroom. Love's Labour seem lost, and no amount of coaxing and cat food can persuade Pinky to come down and enter into matrimony. Mr. Mittens seems spurned as a spouse. Cue strains of "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off!"

But as a meltdown from Ms. Superlove threatens, Mom steps in with a plan that pleases the little wedding planner.

"DADDY AND I CAN GET MARRIED AND THIS TIME YOU CAN BE THERE, TOO."

The bride is smiling through her resurrected wedding veil, the groom is handsome, in formal bowtie with a freshly-picked posy in his buttonhole, and Superlove is a happy flower girl as her parents renew their vows. Even Pinky the Cat seems to be seeing Mr. Mittens, attired for the occasion in a natty top hat, in a new light. Author Charise Mericle Harper steps in to save their day with a sweet plot twist that satisfies, an ending that especially celebrates the "happily ever after" part of family life.

For more down-the-aisle festivities, pair this one with Julie Andrews' The Very Fairy Princess: Here Comes the Flower Girl!, (read review here) Kevin Henkes' best-seller, Lilly's Big Day,  Jane O'Connor's recent Fancy Nancy and the Wedding of the Century, or Barbara Park's hilarious classic, Junie B. Jones Is (almost) a Flower Girl (Junie B. Jones, No. 13).

All For One! Brothers by David McPhail

MOST OF THE TIME THEY GOT ALONG.

SOME OF THE TIME THEY SQUABBLED.

It's inevitable that siblings are going to disagree. Some days big brothers won't share, even if little brothers ask (nicely). No fair!

Sometimes they decide to take turns.

And then they can't agree on whose turn it is.

Sometimes one says it's the other's fault. Sometimes one nicely assumes part of the blame.

"IT WAS MY FAULT, TOO!"

After all, you never know when you might skin your knee and need a ride home for first aid.

When they happen to like to do the same thing, brothers sometimes come up with an idea how to have it their own way.

THEY BOTH LIKE CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM, BUT ONE LIKES IT IN A CONE,

WHILE THE OTHER INSISTS ON A CUP AND A SPOON.

In his charming board book edition of Brothers (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014), there are good things and bad things about having a brother around, and artist David McPhail's tender and empathetic illustrations show both sides of the trials and triumphs of sharing everything--from one bike to part of the blame for a broken lamp to one bed when a scary nighttime thunderstorm blows in. It's nice that McPhail finally got around to creating a companion book to his still popular Sisters.  And parents of a pair of each, brothers and sisters, had better have a copy of each, just to be fair.

Not Small! There's No Such Thing As Little by Le Uyen Pham

EVERYONE SAYS I'M LITTLE.

I REALLY DON'T AGREE.

IF ONLY THEY COULD SEE WHAT I SEE

WHEN THEY LOOK AT ME.

A pair of kids with rising expectations set out to show that size is definitely relative: a single candle may seem small, just a little light,
but a close look through it shows that it can be as big as a lighthouse.

A small seedling tree in a pot can grow to be a generous tree.--with apples for all. A little goldfish might look small in its bowl, but also become part of a huge, shark-shaped school of fish. And a small squiggle on an artist's easel can easily become part of a large painting at the museum--when you really look into it!

LeUyen Pham's latest, There's No Such Thing as Little (Alfred A. Knopf Books, 2015), uses clever die-cut pages and jolly cartoon kids that show that little things do grow, just like the narrators of this enticing toy and movable book, in which little things, seen in small cut-out circles can turn into big things with just a turn of the page.

LITTLE?

NOT ME!

Cretaceous Caretaker: Rex Finds An Egg! Egg! Egg! by Sten Weinberg

When this goofy-looking baby dino finds a large spotted ovoid, he assumes it's an egg. He's quite taken with it and carries it carefully toward his own nesting area.

But prehistoric times are fraught with danger. A nearby volcano begins to rumble and spout, and Rex realizes he has to do something to save himself--and his egg.

"RUN! RUN! RUN!"

Rex makes a run for it, unfortunately right over a cliff and into the cretaceous sea, swimming with a variety prehistoric critters. Luckily, Rex lands on the back of one sea monster and seems temporarily safe.

But, NO! A pterodactyl swoops to scoop up Rex and egg. Rex slides down the sea monster's back and scurries back to the safety of his own nest. Whew!

But when the volcano again begins to shake the earth, spewing steam and lava, little Rex drops his prize. It cracks open, and Rex realizes that he's been nurturing, not an egg at all, but a rock! Rex is briefly brokenhearted. Is this the sad end to a possible lovely friendship?

Little Rex is an appealing little predator in Steven Weinberg's jolly T. Rex romp, Rex Finds an Egg! Egg! Egg! (Margaret K. Elderry Books, 2015. Weinberg's easy text will have tots chiming in on the thrice-repeated refrain and older preschoolers will soon be "reading" this one themselves, while his bright palette shows off his cute little T. Rex character with plenty of charm and verve.

But Nature will out, as caretaker turns carnivore when Rex gets a bit rumbly in his tumbly and spots potential herbivorous prey:

"LUNCH! LUNCH! LUNCH!"

As Kirkus Reviews adds waggishly, "Young dinosaur fans will like this solo debut for Weinberg a bunch, bunch, bunch."

Even a Mouse.... Such a Small Mouse by Alice Schertle

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MEADOW, UNDER A CLUMP OF DANDELIONS,
WAY DOWN DEEP IN THE HOLE
LIVES A MOUSE.
SUCH A LITTLE MOUSE
WITH HIS SMART GRAY COAT,
WITH HIS EARS PINK AS PETALS,
WITH THREE TWITCHETY WHISKERS ON EACH SIDE OF HIS NOSE.

And such a providential mouse he is, too. Every morning of spring he pokes his nose out and scurries off to gather seeds and fresh greens--unfurling ferns and clover blossoms, dodging but greeting the busy bees.

Summer finds him selecting fresh watercress and chatting with a toad sheltering from the sun under a flower's broad leaves. He gathers small twigs for the beavers' new dam, and at sunset home he goes home with his cress and more seeds to stock his storeroom down deep underground.

Autumn comes. The little mouse scoots out and about beneath the falling leaves.

"RUSTLE, RUSTLE, RUSTLE" GO THE LEAVES.

HE WATCHES THE GEESE OVERHEAD.
"HONK! HONK! HONK!" THEY CRY.
"WINTER IS COMING!"

And the thrifty little mouse hauls home dozens of fat acorns to tuck away in his pantry. His cozy hole awaits, with a downy bed for sleeping, well-stocked larders, and a well-appointed kitchen, all below the frost line.

A thoughtful provider, this is a foresightful little mouse who can feast in fine form and sleep snugly through stormy, snowy nights.

The celebrated Alice Schertle's latest, Such a Little Mouse, (Scholastic Press, 2015) is a story which takes time to smell the roses, so to speak, to savor the seasons and share their bounty with the neighbors out in the wide world of the meadow.

Artist Stephanie Yue's gentle, old-fashioned pencil and watercolor illustrations catch the sweetness of each season, even winter, as Mouse simmers his dried watercress-and-seed soup, reading and resting up for the next growing season. Children will warm to author Schertle's gently repetitive narration and Yue's soft, detailed pictures, from the sun-shy toad in his hideout to Mouse's cozy kitchen with alphabet-block counters and a tiny tea-light candle's yellow illumination. Among the many books about the joys of the seasons, this one is definitely a standout.

The Mightiest Mollusk The Octopus Scientists: Exploring the Mind of the Mollusk by Sy Montgomery

With their superhuman strength, seemingly magical skin, and eerie intelligence, octopuses have inspired artists, storytellers, and even religious leaders from coastal cultures around the world.

Octopuses are infinitely intriguing because, let's face it, they are just so amazingly weird!

They are mollusks, but they have no shells. They have eight arms, two of which have their own brains and hearts. and all of which can regrow themselves. They walk on their arms, zoom through the water jet propelled by water-pressure jets. and their sense of taste is located in their suckers. They have only one "tooth," a beak powerful enough to crack a crack a crab or amputate a limb.

Shape-shifters who can squeeze through tiny openings, their blood runs blue and their skin can transform from an shapeless mass of pimply, putty-colored papillae to an iridescent, shimmering mass of glowing blue or orange, a total stop-light red meant to give predators pause, or perfectly mottled camouflage matched to any background--all in the blink of an eye. They are smart enough to recognize familiar human faces for years and remember whether they were gentle or threatening, and neat enough after eating to arrange their empty crab shells and legs in neat stacks like china plates and silverware after a dinner party.

Surely a creature with a claim to being the most alien of the animal kingdom is well deserving of scientific study in Sy Montgomery's forthcoming tomorrow, The Octopus Scientists (Scientists in the Field Series) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015).  In this title author Cy Montgomery has the enviable assignment of shadowing a team of ocean biology scientists on the tropical island of Moorea in French Polynesia, where most of the diving is in shallow water and requires only a snorkel and mask and the main hazards are knees skinned on shallow coral while scanning for the octopus dens.

No octopuses are taken as specimens; only their neatly piled "middens," are collected to document their diets. Researchers do administer personality tests to their subject to measure how bold or shy the cephalopods may be.  Octopus psychologists may recognize some similarities to human patients: shy ones cringe and withdraw when poked, while bold ones grab the pencil and try to pull it out of the researcher's hand. Really annoyed octopuses shoot a blob from their sand funnels at the investigator, and desperate ones depart in a cloud of black ink.

Replete with gorgeous underwater photos of multicolored tropical fish and corals, giant clams and crabs, buff-colored sea cucumbers and black-tipped (non-man-eating) sharks, swim-finned students, and teasing glimpses of tropical shores, this book follows the disappointments and discoveries, the discipline of taking endless notes underwater and the discomforts of crawling over dead coral and swimming through algae with the texture of Brillo pads, but especially the joys of adding to the knowledge of this little known but wondrous animal. As always in Houghton Mifflin's notable Scientists in the Field, series, a bibliography and detailed index add to the usefulness of this entry. "Science in the field at its best," says Kirkus Reviews.

For even more psychological octopus oddities, pair this one with Sy Montgomery's just published The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness.

Calling All Lions! Lion Lion by Miriam Bush

"LION!!!"

A boy steps out of his house and calls loudly, but when a real, full-grown lion answers his call, he looks very surprised! Clearly, this isn't the Lion he expected.

Lion says, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to find Lion. What about YOU?" the boy answers.

"I am looking for lunch."

Coming from a lion, that sounds ominous. Trying to look unflustered, the boy looks around for lunch possibilities.

"Care for some grass?"

The Lion ventures into the grass, but a snapping turtle grabs his foot.

The Lion declares the grass too "snappy." Offered some mushrooms, he steps on a prickly hedgehog snacking on the 'shrooms and declines the offer as too splintery.

The berry bushes are stinky from some skunks who have been sampling the fruit. Flowers, maybe?

The Lion points out that a hummingbird has gotten there first.

"Feathers make me sneeze!"

Aha! Suddenly the boy's anxious look changes to a crafty one. Hmmm! He has a plan. If he can make the Lion sneeze....

AH--AHH--AHHH...
CHOO!

Miriam Busch's Lion, Lion (HarperCollins, 2014) has a surprise ending (with a happy MEW from the boy's rescued cat Lion) that close readers may have already figured out, involving feathers and the big red flashlight in the boy's back pocket.Illustrator Larry Day is in on the joke, of course, and offers visual clues that foreshadow the happy reunion, not to mention the little mouse on every page. (Note: No hummingbirds, skunks, hedgehogs, turtles--or cats-were harmed in the making of this story!)

The Bulletin for Children's Books call this one downright "Sendakian," and Kirkus says, "The grand joke comes at the end, when the clever boy forces the lion to sneeze, and there is another play on the same theme on the very last page. Sly, dark humor for little ones—at its best."

Bottom-Up Birthday: The Backwards Birthday Party by Tom Chapln and John Forster

ON MY BIRTHDAY MORNING
THE SUN WAS SINKING LOW.

I PUT MY CLOTHES ON INSIDE OUT
AND DOWN THE STAIRS DID GO.

We've all heard of retro parties, but this is ridiculous!

This go-with-the-flow birthday boy takes it all in stride, though. The banner suspended across the living room reads "!SNOITALUTARGNOC" The guests say goodbye and wave as they walk out the door.

But not to worry. The party's not over. It's just taking place in reverse. They guests appear with a magical page turn, where the good-natured host re-wraps his opened gifts and presents them to his guests as they enter. Then, in a crowd-pleasing choice, they eat the cake first.

THE ICE CREAM WAS HOT.

THE CANDLES WERE NOT!

The blindfolded donkey pins the tails on the kids, with the usual hilarious results. And the longer the kids party, the earlier the day becomes, with the hands on the clock going counter-clockwise until it is the wee hours of the morning, and the party turns into a de facto sleepover. It's actually the perfect birthday, and there's a bonus when at dawn the still sleepy host finally pushes the party goers out the door...

I WAS ONE YEAR YOUNGER
THAN I WAS THE DAY BEFORE.

Recycling their 1994 children's song, Tom Chapin and Chuck Groenink's brand-new collaboration, The Backwards Birthday Party (Atheneum Books, 2015) uses clever page design strategy to highlight the premise, with letters turned around and one page actually reading bottom to top. Refrains recur frequently to give listening kids a vocal role in the fun. Illustrator Chuck Groenink plants humorous sight gags aplenty on the pages, and the authors even append the words and music as endpapers. It's all there except a warning that the unimaginative reader might turn the book upside down and read the story back to front! Otherwise, as the creators put it, this one is "the partyday birthwards back!" !!YADHTRIB YPPAH

Count on It! Ten Pigs: An Epic Bath Adventure by Derek Anderson

ONE PIG,

ONE VERY HAPPY PIG.

THIS BATHTUB IS PERFECT

FOR JUST YOU AND ME!

It's shiny, and slippery, and sudsy, and just the right size for one pink pig and his little rubber ducky.

Ahhh! he settles down, neck deep in the warm bubble bath and closes his eyes.

But then Pig Two suddenly shows up, ready to hit the suds.

TWO? TWO??

THIS TUB IS TOO SMALL

FOR A DUCK, TWO PIGS,

AND A BOUNCY BEACH BALL!

And the pigs keep counting up, along with their gear. First a pig in swim fins, one in a pirate hat, then a pig tooting a tuba, and one launching his big boat. The pigs count up, the bubbles pop and the bath water slops. Pig Eight brings a sand castle, while Pig Nine wedges himself into the suds with his fly rod and bait.

Is there always room for one more? It's a big pig cram-jam as Pig Ten and his surf board get ready to hang ten!. Surf's up?

TEN pigs in a tub? But before an all-out water fight begins, one pig spots something coming, and it's not Pig Eleven!

WHAT'S THAT?

In a hurry and a flurry the tub empties as pigs peel out, 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2...., and scurry away, page right. What do they see?

ONE WOLF!

Savvy youngsters will spy the zipper down the front of that wolf suit and guess just which pig is inside, in Derek Anderson's jolly new counting book, Ten Pigs: An Epic Bath Adventure (Orchard Books, 2015). Comic critters and rollicking rhymes are author-illustrator Anderson's specialty, and this pink, impolite, and portly porker tale is no exception. Even the rubber ducky's eyes help tell the story, right up the the happy ending, when the "wolf" settles back down in his bath, just the right size for ONE PIG and his yellow floaty pal.

Ex Libris: The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein

THE THETA PROJECT: Lab Note #318
Prepared by Dr. Xiang Libris, PhD., DLit.

I am thrilled to report that after an exhaustive search, I have found the ideal subject for our first field test, which will commence as soon as Billy G., a twelve-year-old male with a very vivid imagination arrives on-site.

His mother will be busy. His father will be away. He will be bored. In short, Billy G. will be perfect.

When his mom informs him that she needs some time away from his dad, Billy's internal alarms start to go off. And when they arrive at their lake cottage, loaned for the summer by her mathematical mentor, Dr. Libris, the situation goes from worrying to wretched. The cottage is nice enough, with a log cabin exterior and a modern interior, but Billy is not fond of aquatic activities and the place is strictly lacking in digital attractions.

It was pretty much a bust.

No TV, DVD layer, or XBox. No computer whatsoever.

There was, however, a framed needlework sampler on the wall.

A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.
--Carl Sagan

Billy is also a bit spooked by the security cameras everywhere, even in his bedroom. He tosses his unwanted swimsuit over it and heads outside to look around, stuffing his iPhone in his pocket.

Bad moves. In short order, Billy meets another summer kid, the wimpy Walter, drops and breaks his phone, and meets up with the island's own bully, Nick Farkas, and his two henchmen. Spotting some Space Lizard comics in Nick's bike basket, Billy experiences a brief moment of hope that he'll be invited to play the video game with Nick's crew, but Farkas quickly disabuses him of that idea. His parents are breaking up, his summer is a bummer, and the local bully is itching to beat him up. Great.

But curiosity wins out, and when Billy explores the cabin's lower floor, he finds a strange library, with many familiar books locked behind glass doors. No key is in evidence, but there is a riddle, which Billy quickly solves, and he locates the key in record time. He takes down a book, the Labors of Hercules, and smiles at the bookplate inside:

EX LIBRIS X. Libris

Dr. Libris may be a weird guy, but he does have a sense of humor.

Billy starts to read about Hercules' challenge of Antaeus and realizes he's hearing yelling and curses coming from somewhere. It's outside, and when he leaves the cabin, he realizes that it's coming from the island in the center of the lake, the location of Dr. Libris' fortress-like study. Billy can't believe his eyes. The two combatants seem to be Hercules and Antaeus. After a bad night of mythic dreams, Billy resolves to try a more sedate book. Mom recommends her favorite, The Adventures of Robin Hood (Puffin Classics). But when his curiosity overwhelms him, he gives in and decides to row over to Dr. Libris' island.

And what he finds there is indeed a world ex libris, a world populated by Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and the Sheriff of Nottingham. Hercules shows up, and after a bit of combat with Robin, capitulates and squeezes into what seems to be Little John's old uniform to become one of Robin's "Merry Persons." In short order, Walter has to see what's going on and joins Billy in the mixed company of Poseidon, Pollyanna, Tom Sawyer, Jack and his Beanstalk Giant, even The Three Musketeers and assorted literary monsters, including even the Space Lizard of comic book fame. Things are looking quite Grimm for Billy, Walter, and their fictional friends.

How could he defeat the Space Lizard? Even Hercules was not strong enough.

"Ho, lads and lassies!" said Robin Hood. "All is not lost."

"I'm not Little John, or you, Maid Marian. I'm not a hero. I'm just a kid who can't even save his own family...."

"Nonsense," said Maid Marian.

"Each of us can choose what or who we shall be. We write our own stories every day."

And with a little help from the formidable Nick Farkas' Space Lizard Cheat Sheet and Jules Verne's time machine, Billy does it all, managing the monsters and even arranging a quick trip for his parents back in time to the day they first fell in love, in Chris Grabenstein's newest literary romp, The Island of Dr. Libris (Random House, 2015), working with references and classical characters from One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish (I Can Read It All by Myself) to To Kill a Mockingbird, from The Hobbit; or, There and Back Again to Holes.

With a breezy, spoofy style that goes down easily for summer reading and with a promising premise that kids can choose how they help write their own life stories, Grabenstein works fifty famous novels (titles appended), into this book-boosting novel, which joins his freewheeling fantasy best-seller from last summer, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library.

Chris Grabenstein polished his literary acumen on his many middle reader mysteries and his comedy chops as co-author of James Patterson's I Funny series.

Maybe He Just Forgot to Shave! Gorillas in Our Midst by Richard Fairgray

You know how it is. You get gorillas on your mind and you start seeing them everywhere!

GORILLAS ARE HARD TO SPOT.

THEY'RE MASTERS OF DISGUISE.

That fuzzy-faced guy behind the newspaper on the subway? Can't be!

But just in case it's a good idea to keep a banana or two with you at all times.

Don't say you weren't forewarned!

GORILLAS OFTEN GET JOBS THAT LET THEM WEAR MASKS.

So, see, you've got to watch out for astronauts, scuba divers, surgeons, ninjas..., especially if they're kinda on the, um, burly side.

You may not spot them at the supermarket, but in the fresh produce section, if the sign on the banana bin says SOLD OUT, you-know-who has been there!

GORILLAS HAVE BEEN IN OUR MIDST FOR A LONG TIME.

SURELY YOU'VE HEARD OF GORILLIAM SHAKESPEARE?

OR APEBRAHAM LINCOLN?

But if you think you spy a gorilla, look again. It's probably just an orangutan.

THEY'RE TERRIBLE AT HIDING.

Richard Fairgray's gloriously tongue-in-cheek Gorillas in Our Midst (Sky Pony Press, 2015) offers kids the secret scoop on spotting undercover apes, while illustrator Terry Jones' artwork aids and abets the author's deadpan delivery and preserves the putative great ape's deniabilty with a nod and a wink to savvy readers. Only grown-ups of a certain age can be expected to get the pun in the title,* but although Jones' droll blackline illustrations tell the story well, older kids (those who have at least heard of William Shakespeare, for example) will especially get the wry humor in this one and ape-preciate its sly sophisticated wit.


*Dr. Dian Fossey's classic nature memoir, Gorillas in the Mist.

Whozzat? Smick by Doreen Cronin

GOOD, SMICK!

STICK?

Smick's off-page owner points out a stick (surprisingly, a digitally offered image of a real stick) and big, droopy-eared Smick is up for a game of throw-and-fetch--until a small Cluck is heard.

What? It's ... a CHICK?

What should Smick do with that? Fetch it like the stick? His human nixes that move quick!

There is a better way to play with a chick, and Smick and Chick soon figure that out, as Chick rides along on Smick's head as he fetches the stick. Chick is more fun than a stick. Chick is a sidechick! No, wait! He's a...

SIDEKICK!

And Smick's little sidekick chick sticks it out and earns a lick from Smick's long tongue in the latest preschool pleaser from Doreen Cronin (of Click Clack Moo fame).

Veteran wordsmith Cronin's Smick (Viking Press, 2015) shows again why she's a best-selling writer who knows how to use simple text to charm readers and to inspire illustrators to remarkable heights. Juana Medina's Smick is big, goofy white dog, outlined in thick, amorphous blackline, ready for anything, and his new friend is a bright-hued collaged leaf-shape with minimalist features and skinny bird legs, whose expressions extend Cronin's equally spare text. Dogs just wanna have fun, and with this playful pair, the author's slick rhyming vocabulary will have preschoolers "reading" their way through this delightful romp in the park. "This clever and appealing glimpse into the start of some delightful friendships is one doggone good time," says School Library Journal's starred review.

For more odd-couple pairings, share this one with Jennifer Sattler's Chick 'n' Pug or sequels. (See reviews here.)

Sinister Plush Stalker? I Don't Like Koala by Sean Ferrell

It's a picture-perfect beribboned present just waiting for Adam. He goes for it, unties the bow, opens the box, and quails at what's under the tissue:

ADAM DOES NOT LIKE KOALA.

HE IS THE MOST TERRIBLE TERRIBLE.

It's his eyes--yellow-orange, slightly cockeyed, staring.

Koala is freaky spooky.

Adam's parents are appalled when his first reaction is to throw the plush animal across the room. That's not the way to act about a nice gift....

"I DON'T LIKE KOALA," ADAM SAYS.

Those eyes seem to follow Adam wherever he goes. Koala is just creepy.

Nobody understands. Each night before he goes to bed, Adam tries to get rid of Koala. He sticks him in his mom's big purse. He hides him at the bottom of the clothes hamper. He stuffs him under the sofa.  But when Adam opens his eyes each morning...

KOALA IS ALWAYS THERE.

IN BED. ON HIS PILLOW.

CLOSER THAN CLOSE.

AAARRGGHHH! Adam can't take it anymore. He decides that Koala needs to go on a long, long walk to nowhere. With Koala crammed in his backpack, he hikes high into the hills and leaves Koala leaning against a tree, his yellowish eyes staring off into the opposite direction. Adam hightails it back home without a backward look. Mission accomplished.

Or NOT.

AND THERE IS KOALA!

Okay.  This is clearly freaky deaky. It's clearly not Mom, tidying up before bed, putting Koala next to him every night. Adam lies in bed, trying not to look at Koala staring at him, and tries to be brave. But now even the shadows of the leafless tree outside his window seem sinister.

Surprisingly, Adam finds he is kinda glad to have Koala on watch with him.

MAYBE KOALA ISN'T SO TERRIBLE AFTER ALL.

But when his fond parents peep in on him, snoozing comfortably with his plush pal, Mom smiles tenderly at the cozy sight. Dad, though, suddenly gets a gander at Koala's weird eyes glinting back at him in the moonlight.

"I don't like Koala!." he whispers to Mom.

Sean Ferrell's I Don't Like Koala (Atheneum, 2015) is a sly, layered story that requires just the right illustrator, and artist Charles Santoso is that man. Into his quintessentially homey setting, Santoso's colored pencil drawings subtly juxtapose Koala, superficially a cutesy stuffed animal whose gaze is both goofy and somehow sinister, but with just enough of the look of the horror movie dummy Chucky to plant a humorous sleeper of a gotcha ending for savvy readers. Some kids may be all too happy to close the cover on Koala, but fans who savor Jon Klaas's wickedly funny books will wish Koala a rapid return appearance to the picture book page.

Laddies and Ladies, Hare They Are! The Bunny Rabbit Show! by Sandra Boynton

WE'RE TEN TERRIFIC RABBITS

AND WE LOVE TO DANCE AND SING!

Bunnies hop on stage, and sashay through their routine.
They tap dance, high kick, twirl; then they all start to sing.

Hares can be real hams in Sandra Boynton's latest board book box office blockbuster, The Bunny Rabbit Show! (Workman Press, 2014).

With a downloadable song waiting in the wings, and a chorus line of cute cottontail chorines, all star-struck tots, whether they are hoofers, crooners, or divas, can take their turns in the spotlight, belting it out along with the cast of Boynton's rabbit revue.

So shuffle on down to Buffalo
And take your seats right in the front row.
With Boynton's All-Bunny Chorus Line,
They're bound to stop the show!

Sleep Tight! Baby Bedtime by Mem Fox

"I COULD STROKE YOUR SILKY HAIR.

I COULD SIT YOU ON MY KNEE.

I COULD SING YOU ALL THE SONGS MY MOTHER SANG TO ME."

Beloved author Mem Fox captures that magical moment when baby is sleepy and just right for a bit of cuddling before bed. Toes are kissed as Fox's loving mother rocks her baby in her arms and her babe yawns widely. Artist Emma Quay provides soft purple and lavender elephants as storybook stand-ins for a human mother and child, as with gentle endearments baby is moved toward sleep.

Together Mem Fox and Emma Quay give readers one of those fleeting magic moments of parenting.

"I COULD GAZE AT YOU ALL NIGHT."

Read this one with Mem Fox's best-selling Time for Bed.