Yay, Us! Pete the Cat Rocking Field Day by Kimberly and James Dean

The sun is BRIGHT and the grass is GREEN. It's a great day for ... FIELD DAY!

LAST YEAR, PETE'S TEAM CAME IN THIRD PLACE.

HE WANTS TO WIN FIRST PLACE THIS YEAR!

Pete wears his red tee, his red headband, and of course, his good-luck red shoes.

The teams line up for the first competition, the baton pass relay race. On the other team are Alligator, Marty the monkey, Squirrel and Turtle.

OH, NO! Squirrel is faster than anyone and hands the baton to Turtle, who crosses the finish line first! Pete knows that they have to try harder, and in the water balloon toss, Pete and Callie win for their team.

The teams are tied, and Pete knows that he still has a chance to earn a medal. But can Pete and his team win the next three events?

Pete's team is fired up! They win the rope pull, and Pete aces the obstacle course. Pete knows he'll get a medal if he can just win the egg-carry race.

Will Pete's hand stay steady...

Or will his nerves (and the egg) crack? OOPS!

It's a tie for the two teams, and Pete has to accept his medallion with a bit of (metaphorical) egg on his face, in Kimberly and James Dean's Pete the Cat: Rocking Field Day (I Can Read Level 1) (Harper I-Can-Read Books.

Everyone is the winner when youngsters become eager readers, and as Pete always says, "It's all good!" And everybody's a winner when the class has a great day outside and when kids can read about the games all by themselves in this winning I-Can-Read easy reader book.

From Seed to Glow! How to Help A Pumpkin Grow by Ashley Wolff

Where do pumpkins come from? A packet of freeze-dried powder? A can of orange glop? The frozen dessert section of the grocery?

No! Pumpkins come from pumpkin seeds! Cut off the top of any pumpkin and you'll see them, clustered together inside the pumpkin--seeds that came from a pumpkin patch somewhere on earth!

And how do we get pumpkins for Halloween Jack-O'-Lanterns and Thanksgiving pumpkin bread and pies and those ubiquitous pumpkin-spice flavored smoothies? We plant pumpkin seeds in early spring! And that's what author-illustrator Ashley Wolff shows us how to do in her just-in-time pumpkin-planting book, How to Help a Pumpkin Grow (Beach Lane Books, 2021). A helpful black and white Aussie dog recruits some friends and shows them how to cut a lid off the top of a pumpkin and separate the seeds from the glop inside to dry them for planting in the pumpkin patch.

DIG IT!

SEEDS TO SOW.

Protect them from the falling snow! Fence them and chase away a marauding crow. They like a bit of fertilizer and plenty of water from time to time. When the tender stalks and leaves begin to show, fence in the patch so their vines can go! Co-opt the bunnies and geese and goat to let the vines and tiny pumpkins just GROW..., losing their green color and gaining their orange glow!

FILLING UP THE GARDEN--WHOA!

When the big green pumpkins turn to orange, it's time to roast the seeds, to mix the filling, and bake the pies in the oven.

IT'S TIME TO CARVE THEM JUST SO!

Light the candles and watch them--

"GLOW!

With bouncy rhyming text and jolly illustrations of all kinds of friendly animals collaborating and cooperating to produce pumpkin treats together, this lovely book written and illustrated by Ashley Wolff does double duty for fall read alouds. After all, where do next year's Jack O'lanterns and pumpkins pies come from?

Share this one with Margaret McNamara's How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? (Mr. Tiffin's Classroom Series), reviewed here:

Best Buddies: Dogs Love Cars by Leda Schubert

WINDOWS DOWN, NOSES OUT, EARS FLAPPING, DROOL ON THE WINDOWS....

Most dogs are mad about cars.

Don't get me wrong. Cats are great pets. But most cats are not fond of car rides. Having wind in their fur and faces does not particularly appeal to them. (They don't drool much, however.) But if you love a pet who likes to go places and do things outside in brand new places, dogs are ecstatic! (Most cats could not care less, (unless it's their idea!)

BUT DOGS LOVE CARS!

Dogs love to go for walks with their owner on the other end of the leash. They like to meet strange dogs and exchange sniffs. Dogs like pretty much everything about going places and doing things outdoors. Or indoors will do as if that's what you've got.

DOGS LOVE TOYS.

Floppy, bouncy, rolling, chewey, new, or old, dirty and disgusting, chewed up, broken, dogs adore 'em.

DOGS LOVE CHORES.

Dogs love washing cars, and they love digging dirt for any purpose known to man. (Cats, on the other hand, only dig for one purpose, one that most owners do not care to share!)

Dogs love to eat almost any kind of food, and some things that their owners don't even consider to be food.

But the best thing about dogs is that. . .

DOGS LOVE PEOPLE!

Dogs try to love cats, but that doesn't always work out so well! But in fact, the best thing about dogs is that they love their owners. And they usually want to love everything their owners love, even if that's a cat, in Leda Schubert's joyful, just published picture book in praise of all things canine, Dogs Love Cars (Candlewick Press, 2021).

With the funny child-centered illustrations of dogs being dogs, doing their thing, including loving their owners, by Paul Meisel, this is a book that almost anyone will love.

Says Booklist, "Energetic and appealing... a doggy delight!"

No Matter What the Weather: More Than Sunny! by Shelley Johannes

"IT'S EARLY!" GRUMBLES LITTLE BROTHER."

"IT'S SUNNY AND BIRDY" COAXES BIG SISTER."

She hustles her sibling into a spring jacket and outside beside the pond, where he complains...

"MUCKY!"

"IT'S SUNNY AND DUCKY!"...

. . . Sister counters, as a proud Mama Duck and a long line of little ducklings strut by.

And spring blows through as if on one long breezy day, until suddenly one warm sunny day, the siblings realize it's summer. Little Brother whines!

"IT'S MUGGY!" AND BUGGY!"

But as Shakespeare says, "Summer's lease hath all too short a stay."

As summer races by, the kids have fun, collecting caterpillars and worms and wishfully fishing and not catching fish, waiting out stormy, steamy, summer rain showers, suiting up in yellow slickers and boots, catching squirmy worms in the mud, and before they know it, summer melts away, to be replaced by whooshy winds and nervous, fussy, busy squirrels storing up acorns for the winter. And on one gray, cloudy day, they wave goodbye to the geese sailing by, heading south. And then it's. . .

"WINTER. AND WAITY!"

The two kids color and cut out Christmas decorations to hang from the windows with red yarn and watch at the windows for snowflakes to catch and melt on their tongues. And then it is snowy, and ready for sledding and chilling and spilling and then watching at their dark windows. . . .

And with a shushed sneaking downstairs to step out on the porch, they see... their very own falling star.

It's the grand finale of one more joyful trip around the sun to celebrate those blessed seasons of childhood, in Shelley Johannes' delightful latest, More Than Sunny (Abrams Books, 2021). It's all good weather to be together, and rain or shine, it's all fine!

Author Johannes' descriptive pairs of rhyming adjectives are as bouncy as the big sister's two ponytails, leading the way through the seasons, and artist Johannes' charming illustrations in pencil and mixed media are as lively and bright as the two young siblings in a sweet salute of the seasons, from spring glow to falling snow, late and lovely.

Says Publishers Weekly, "Breezy and buzzy/ summer and fuzzy!” transitions to “winter.../ and waity” before a sweet close focuses on a turnaround—and the night sky. Dynamic art rendered in pencil and mixed media on tracing paper and finished digitally matches the text’s energy in this charming seasonal perusal."

A Friend In Deed: Dear Librarian by Lydia Sigwarth

MAY I TELL YOU A STORY? IT HAPPENED WHEN I WAS FIVE YEARS OLD.

MY MOM AND DAD AND FIVE BIG SISTERS AND ONE LITTLE BROTHER ALL HAD TO LEAVE COLORADO AND MOVE TO IOWA, WHERE GRANDMA LIVED.

Dad finds a job, but there was not enough room for all of them at anyone's house. At Grandma's house, there was a park but no friends. There was not enough room for all of them to stay at Aunt Lydia's house, already full of things that break, or in Aunt Lydia's cozy but tiny basement, three to a sofa and three to the bed.

NOWHERE WAS HOME FOR ME.

But one day Mom takes them to a new place.

THE LIBRARY.

There was a big sunny window with a puppet stage there and so many books. There were toys and cozy pillows for reading alone. But just up those stairs, there is a big round desk, which becomes her favorite place to be with a friend called the Librarian, someone who, with a hug, finds the perfect book about princesses and reads it to her in the special reading spot on the floor.

In these days a library with a librarian whose job is to find and read a special story for a lonely child can become a home big enough for everyone, in Lydia Sigwarth's gentle story of displaced people with a place and a space beautifully realized in the intimate artwork of Romina Galotta, for everyone, in her Dear Librarian (Farrar, Strous and Giroux, 2021).

Yes, there may be a perfect book for a particular child in a library, but there is also a warm welcoming public place for everyone, each with his or her own need for a sunny, friendly spot to be alone or together. Publishers Weekly says, "A gentle ode to the effect one person can have on another, and what a library can offer a community."

What's for Lunch? Geraldine Pu and Her Lunch Box, Too! by Maggie P. Chang

GERALDINE LOVES HER FAMILY. . . AND GOING TO SCHOOL. . . WITH HER LUNCH BOX (NAMED BIANDANG). . .ARE FAVORITE THINGS

.

AND THE BEST PART OF GOING TO SCHOOL IS . . . LUNCH!

Geraldine loves the stickers on her lunch box and her grandmother Amah, who always makes her a special lunch--sometimes leftovers from dinner, and sometimes a surprise, with a special note.

But this day at lunch, with yellow curry inside Biandong, was a disaster. Everything was great until...

"SNIFF, SNIFF..."

NICO ARRIVED." EW!!!"

"YOUR LUNCH IS GROSS!!"

Everyone at the table begins to hold their noses and make rude sounds. Geraldine moves as far away from everyone as she can and closes her lunch box and locks it.

That night she eats everything on the table. She asks her grandmother to make her a sandwich for lunch the next day. Amah says they are out of bread, but she'll come up with something.

The next day Geraldine confidently opens her Biandang, expecting a plain sandwich. But it's a BAO--a yummy soft-steamed bun with filling.

"WHAT'S THAT?" ASKED NICO, MAKING A FACE. "IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE A SANDWICH! EVEN YOUR SANDWICHES LOOK WEIRD!"

Again Geraldine closes her lunchbox and moves away from Nico and the rest of the kids who are making faces. She sits by a new boy named Deven at the far end of the table. And when she leaves her lunchbox on the bus, Deven calls out that she's forgetting her lunch box. But Nico yells out the window. . .

"THE SMELLY LUNCHBOX BELONGS TO GERALDINE POOO POOO!!"

The kids on the bus drive away, giggling. And when Geraldine gets home, she hurries to her bedroom and...

. . .

SLAMS THE DOOR!

Geraldine throws her lunchbox against the wall. She's instantly sorry and fixes Biandang with some glue. There's Stinky Tofu for dinner, of course. But Geraldine doesn't tell her Amah not to put it her lunchbox. What's the use, she thinks.

And at lunch the next day, she sits with Deven, and he offers her something called Stinky Toe from his lunchbox. It's a sweet and delicious fruit, and she shares her stinky tofu with Deven.

And Deven loves it!

The other kids are speechless, bit Geraldine can't wait to share lunches tomorrow, in author-illustrator Maggie P. Chang's new graphic beginning reader, Geraldine Pu and Her Lunch Box, Too!: Ready-to-Read Graphics Level 3 (Simon Spotlights, 2021).

Mining those early grade comic horrors of the school lunchroom, Maggie Chang's tale has its happy ending, told delightfully in graphic novel style for early readers.

Author Chang offers novice readers a lesson on the format of graphic novel-reading, along with vocabulary such as speech balloons (for words spoken) and speech bubbles (for unvoiced thoughts), panels, and how to read the panels left to right on the page. Chang also appends a glossary of foods mentioned in the story for young readers, while grownups with more sophisticated palates reading this one aloud may find themselves longing for an actual warm, steamy bao pronto!

School Library Journal says, "Early readers will sink their teeth into this refreshing story."

Compare and Contrast! Black and White by Debora Vogrig

WHITE WAKES UP...

... And as dawn lightens the sky, the brightening White slips insides the sleeping silhouetted buildings, seeking her friend Black, hiding, as he often is, under the bed. White pushes under the bed, and finds her friend.

"HEY! STOP PUSHING! YOU'RE SQUASHING ME! BLACK GRUMBLES."

White has got places to go and things to do in the morning, but Black decides to trail along, turning into a dark octopus, gleefully squirting dark ink onto the spotless white!

Next he organizes the black ink to make the black spots of a speedy Dalmation running into a forest of birchbark tree trunks. White and Black are on a roll now, and together they make a white polar bear with black nose and a flock of two-toned penguins at the opposite pole.

Moving fast, White and Black form a racing herd of Zebras and a black panther in the rain forest and they go down to the sea flying the black and white Jolly Roger flag of a pirate.

And then it is Black's turn to creep into the landscape, creating those elongated evening shadows. The spiral of darkness begins to take charge.

But the two friends still have just enough light for a game with black and white chess pieces, a sing-along with the black and white keys of the piano, one more story on the black-and-white of the printed page--and just enough light from the crescent moon and a million points of light in the black sky.

It takes TWO, in Debora Vogrig's latest, Black and White (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2021).

Picture book gurus always advise choosing books for youngsters with vibrant colors, but, au contraire, this tour-de-force of picture book possibilities offers a bold sample of what can be done with black and white in the hands of an able author and an illustrious illustrator.

Working solely (but dually) with all-black and all-white pages, illustrator Pia Valentinis uses the contrasting markings of black-and-white animals to make each one easily recognizable in an eye-catching, brain-stimulating reverse-the field technique that illustrates the importance of differences, no matter how very diverse they can be.

Opposites attract, it seems, in this clever story of light and dark White and Black, working together to make their own world. "The story unfolds in short spare sentences that match the illustrations, both text and artwork presenting just enough for readers to fill in the details with their imaginations," says

Where Do They Go?: Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner

OVER THE SNOW I GLIDE.

INTO THE WOODS.

As a boy and his dad ski into the winter woods, the boy's eye catches a flash of color as a red squirrel suddenly zips from sight.

"WHERE DID HE GO?"

"UNDER THE SNOW," DAD SAYS.

Dad tells the boy that many animals keep food stores under the snow, like the red squirrel, who can forage for the scent of nuts and berries he has stored in the space between the slightly melted snow and the cold ground below. And he's not the only creature to make use of that cold locker. Rabbits and hares also visit their secret safe under the snow-- and voles, deer mice, shrews, and ground squirrels have their own larders of nuts and fruit with rinds. Some sleep most of the time in semi-hibernation. They snooze in underground nests and tunnels, where they can wake to eat from time to time from their goodies or sleep long days to conserve their internal fat stores.

As the boy glides up the hills and down, he also sees the wakeful predators, watching for any sign of an animal above the snow. Foxes and owls pounce powerfully if their sharp ears detect a sound from below the snow.

Dad shows him where the sharp hooves of deer leave their tracks behind in the snow.

UNDER THE SNOW THE FAT BULLFROGS SLEEP, DREAMING OF WHEN THEY HAD TAILS.

And down below the snow, beavers in their dens dine on carefully selected supplies of pinecones and bark in their warm dining rooms with a view of the water.

In what seems like a cold and deserted landscape as father and son ski through, forest animals are living in places hidden and unseen, finding food in the frozen stillness of winter, in Kate Messner's Over and Under the Snow.

There is much to learn from the careful ways of animals in winter in this primary lesson on animal behavior and survival in Messner's pleasantly plotted book. Artist Christopher Silas Neal's craftily rendered illustrations display the double levels of life in the winter woodlands, useful for meeting the requirements of the animal science curriculum for the primary grades.

"Beautifully rendered," writes Horn Book Magazine in a starred review.

Wonderworldly! It Fell From the Sky by The Fan Brothers

IT FELL FROM THE SKY ON A THURSDAY.

It is a shiny, translucent, perfectly round thingie, with sinuous ribbons of soft color inside. Ladybug was the eyewitness. She said it bounced three times. Inchworm declines it bounced only two times, and after, all he was the counting expert. Frog shot out his long tongue and gave it a taste. It wasn't good. Adjusting his monocle, Grasshopper opined studiously....

"IT IS NOT OF EARTHLY ORIGIN!"

But just in case it was an earthly chrysalis, Luna Moth stood guard all night. But it didn't hatch. At sunrise Spider arrives and announces that the marvel is HIS. He claimed it fell right into his web.

NOBODY REMEMBERED THE WEB BEING THERE BEFORE, BUT IN FAIRNESS, NOBODY REMEMBERED IT NOT BEING THERE, EITHER.

No one dared question Spider as he begin to spin out grandeous plans to exhibit his treasure to the world. He named it WonderVille.

And with much construction assistance from the ants, WonderVille became a miraculous Mecca for multitudes of sightseers who came from far and wide. They grumbled when Spider raised the admission charge all too often, but they still came. He became fabulously rich, but the visitors from near and far kept coming and coming to see the celestial Wonder of the World, until...

They stopped coming.

WHERE HAD EVERYONE GONE?

THAT WAS BEFORE THE UNEXPECTED DISASTER!

Something with five nimble appendages reached down and snatched the wonder back up toward the sky.

Sic transit gloria!

Spider was ignored and the garden's inhabitants went back to their plebian lives, until. . .

. . . One night, inspired by the stars, Spider climbed high up to the dandelion's flower and started to spin again... . a giant web from tree to tree that was bound to capture more wonders from above...

And, as Hamlet said to Horatio, "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy," and as a wondrous assortment of otherworldly objects--pushpins and spools, legos and bottle caps--continued to fall from the skies, ripe for exhibit by an imaginative entrepreneur, Spider was back in business with his new and improved web of wonders, in The Fan Brothers' latest, It Fell from the Sky (Simon and Schuster, 2021).

In this wondrously illustrated modern fable of . . . what? The errors of exploitation and greed, the promise of seeing wonders in the flotsam and jetsam of the world? Whatever the moral of the tale might be, in this latest eye-catching work of art, tiny insects in their miniature natural world are depicted joyfully in the Fan Brother's latest picture book.

Says School Library Journal, "A whimsical story of what happens when an everyday item is suddenly seen through new eyes."

For more of the fantastic and fantastical artistry of the Fan Brothers, see their acclaimed https://booksforkidsblog.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Night+Gardener here.

Dressing Down! Something's Wrong by Jory John

Bear wakes when the alarm clock rings and begins his morning routine. Bath? Check! Water plants? Check! Breakfast? Check! Comb fur? Check! Try on gift from Grandma? Check!

"HMMM! WHY DO I STILL FEEL LIKE I'M FORGETTING SOMETHING?"

"SOMETHING IS OFF!"

Actually it's what he has on! Everyone he meets along the way acts flustered and fidgety when they see him. They fumble for words and give him THE LOOK, but no one says anything!

But when he walks away, we find out why. Deer mutters to himself:

"WHY IS THAT BEAR WEARING UNDERWEAR?"

Deer stands frozen in the creek asking himself the same question. So does Raccoon, who falls flat out of his tree, and Fox, who is fairly flummoxed at the very sight of Bear. Finally Bear, befuddled, has to find out what it is about him that is causing their uneasiness.

"SOMETHING IS WRONG!"

"I NEED A TRUSTED FRIEND WHO WILL BE HONEST WITH ME!"

And Bear knows that that friend is Anders the Hare, who asks the unspoken question on everyone's mind.

"COULD IT BE THAT YOU LEFT THE HOUSE WEARING UNDERWEAR?"

"GULP!"

Bear looks down and sees that he's still wearing Grandma's gift, a pair of too brief whities, too "tighty" and already beginning to split down the backside. He's absolutely mortified, until good friend Anders takes a page from Tom Sawyer whitewashing his fence, to convince the others that they need a certain undergarment to join the in-group, in the New York Times' best-selling kids' humorist Jory John's latest comic tale, Something's Wrong!: A Bear, a Hare, and Some Underwear (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2021).

Author Jory John's attire advisory is ably assisted by the clever cartoon illustrations of Erin Kraan, whose final spread pictures all the forest animals, now nattily attired in their stylish whitie tighties. This newest picture book comedy imparts a bit of social wisdom and is guaranteed to deliver gallons of giggles for any group of early graders!

Quips Kirkus Reviews, "This underwear affair is wise, witty, and just brief enough.”

Left Behind Little Brother: Henry at Home by Megan Maynor

AS LONG AS THERE HAD BEEN HENRY AND LIZA, THEY WERE TOGETHER.

They got their shots and their haircuts together. They shared their special place--the twisty tree. But then one day when Liza got a new backpack and a box of unsharpened pencils and new crayons, because she was going to school. Henry was too young for school pencils and crayons.

HENRY WAS SAD AND ANGRY.

"YOU'LL GO TO SCHOOL NEXT YEAR," LIZA SAID.

Henry was angry when the bus took her away. But he decided that if Liza could do things he couldn't do, he would do things that Liza couldn't do! He learned how to start the swing swinging by himself and he invented new tricks on the swing.

He practiced until he was great at The Falcon, balancing lying on swing seat with arms outspread as he soars.

And when the bus dropped Liza off, she was full of stories about her day--making new friends and being line leader and learning the school cheer. Henry just jumped on the swing and showed off his new trick, The Falcon. Liza was impressed!

And Liza offered to teach Henry her class cheer if he'll teach her to do The Falcon, in Megan Maynor's newly published, Henry at Home (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021.)

It is hard for younger children to watch an older sibling move on without them, but it looks like Henry is going to be just fine on his own, and, anyway, they'll always have each other to share the twisty tree. Artist Alex Marley's sweet and sensitive illustrations portray a pivotal moment of childhood that navigates changes in relationships while still nurturing those ties that bind. "Says Publishers Weekly, "Younger siblings or those worried about distance weakening close bonds will find reassurance in this tender narrative."

"Movin' On Out!" Road Crew, Coming Through! (Construction Sites) by Sherri Duskey Rinker

The workday is done. It's time to head out. But the highway is full; drivers cringe and shout!

It's time to call the Construction Crew. They're the guys who know what to do. It's time to build a bigger, better ...

. . . SUPER HIGHWAY, A MEGA ROAD.

SIX MIGHTY FRIENDS ARE ON THEIR WAY.

TO HELP WITH SOMETHING BIG TODAY.

All the usual suspects are there--Excavator, Dump Truck, and Skid Steer, to dig and and haul away. But...

SOMETHING NEW.

TO JOIN THE BIG ROAD BUILDING CREW.

(THERE'S A GIANT JOB TO DO!).

There are more needed on this job--Bulldozer clears the stumps and boulders, and Scraper smooths it all out. Water Truck comes along to sprinkle down the dust and keep the air clean. Scraper, Grader, Compacter, and Roller makes the roadbed flat and smooth and hard, yard by yard. Paver lays the blacktop down all around, Crane Truck adds the signs and lights, and Striper Truck paints the yellow and white lines so that the drivers know where they should go.

The job of the big machines, the Road Crew, is done ....

EVERYONE IS ON THEIR WAY--

HEADING HOME TO END THEIR DAY.

The moon is rising; the time is right.--Time for a good night back at the construction site.

Sherri Duskey Rinker, the celebrated prolific writer about those beloved BIG MACHINES, from cranes to trains, introduces them all from her first builder book, to her latest in her new Construction Sites series, Construction Site: Road Crew, Coming Through! (Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site) (Chronicle Books, 2021)

With Rinker's pleasant, bouncy, and rhyming versification, and illustrator AG Ford's jolly anthropomorphic construction rigs happily on the job, this one is sure to please preschoolers and primary readers of the motorhead persuasion who would love to park Rinker's books on their bookshelf.

Share this new one with Sherry Duskey Rinker's Construction Site: Mission Demolition! (Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site), and Construction Site: Merry and Bright: A Christmas Lift-the-Flap Book (Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site)

When the Bough Breaks. . . Too Much Stuff! by Emily Gravett

IN A TREE THAT WAS TALLER THAN ALL THE REST,

MEG AND ASH WERE BUSY BUILDING A NEST.

It was to be a grand home, built with mud, grass, and carefully selected sticks, perfectly fitted for their chicks. They even lined the nest with schnitzels of torn-up magazine pages. In this colorful, comfy-cozy nest, Meg soon laid four fine eggs.

But since there was only room for one of them to sit on the nest at a time, the other magpie had time on his or her hands (er, wings), to think of so many other things the nest might need.

AT FIRST THEY BROUGHT BACK LITTLE STUFF.

But soon the two became... COLLECTORS. First a pair of ornamental cuckoo clocks, a bag full of clothespins, tiny baby socks... but eventually . . .

THEY GOT SOME BIGGER STUFF!

. . .a full-to-bursting park trash receptacle, a junked baby carriage, a mop, broom, and scrub brush, and a trike and a big bike, with basket and bell!

AFTER THAT, THEY'D NEED A CAR,

WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN A STEP TOO FAR!

A classic used Volkswagon is the straw that, er, broke the limb, totally bringing the whole collection down to the ground with a CRACK!

And in a messy pile on the ground, all that stuff was...

. . . just trash! And then the two birds have a truly worrisome thought!

WHERE ARE OUR EGGS!

The two compulsive hoarders are all a-flutter as they get busy, removing, repurposing, and recycling the stuff, until they get down to their nest, where they discover--

You guessed it!--FOUR FINE CHICKS--eager to learn to fly, in noted author-illustrator Emily Gravett's latest, Too Much Stuff! (Simon and Schuster, 2021 Am. Ed.).

Emily Gravett, a two-time winner of the Kate Greenaway Award, Britain's version of our Caldecott Award, given for picture book art, and and here adds this gorgeously executed and joyfully humorous pencil and watercolor artwork. Told in rhyming couplets that keep the story flying along, this one makes a great read-aloud for preschool and primary aged kids, and a clever cautionary tale in anti-clutter-collecting for avians and non-avians! Says Kirkus, "Cheerful, dear, and funny—with a comforting conclusion."

DOWNFALL! Pig the Slob by Aaron Blabey

PIG WAS A PUG, AND I'M SORRY TO SAY,

WAS SHOCKINGLY LAZY, SUCH A SHAMEFUL DISPLAY.

HE LIVED IN A FLAT... HORIZONTAL POSITION,

WHICH LEFT HIM IN TRULY APPALLING CONDITION.

Yes, sadly Pig the Pug (a breed known to be fond of feeding) has become a devoted "couch potato" who lies day and night on the sofa, consuming comestibles constantly, downing mozzarella sticks and pizzas with a candy chaser, and exercising only when he changes the channel on his TV remote.

SWIPE. . . STARE. . . REPEAT!

His mild-mannered co-dog and sometimes friend Trevor, a timid but trim Dachshund, repeatedly warns him that he should change his ways, get off his fat bottom, and do some jogging. But the aptly-named Pig only grows more gross, and his sofa is more of the same, piled high with wrappers, paper cups, drinking straws, and assorted disgusting gnawed-upon bits of fast food.

HIS REPLY WAS QUITE TART.

HE SIMPLY SAID "NO," AND UNLEASHED A FART!

But Mother Nature, particularly as represented in the tensile strength of their apartment's flooring, has her limits, and in time nature follows its course (of course). The floorboards under Pig the Pug's sofa begin to fail, groaning and splintering and finally exploding beneath him, dumping Pig unceremoniously somewhere in the cellar with other disgruntled tenants. Luckily, Pig the Pug's well-developed avoirdupois serves well to soften his descent.

Will Pig the Pug ever change his greedy ways?

Well, sort of, in the noted Aussie humorist author-illustrator's Pig the Slob (Pig the Pug) (Scholastic Press, 2020.

Pig the Pug may work at physical conditioning diligently for a while, but in Aaron Blabey's laugh-out-loud picture books of this odd couple of dogs, Pig seems always to find, er, a new "avenue" for his greediness, much to the amusement of youngsters of preschool and primary grades. Blabey's best-selling rhyming tales of his odd pair of dogs include his trick-or-treat tale, Pig the Monster (Pig the Pug), his Christmas story, Pig the Elf (Pig the Pug), his Pig the Stinker (Pig the Pug), Pig the Tourist (Pig the Pug), Pig the Fibber (Library Edition) (Pig the Pug), and Pig the Winner (Pig the Pug). Couch potatoes and sofa snackers will relish these tasty tales of Trevor and especially Pig, who always gets his, um, just desserts! With plenty of titters and giggles along the way, Aaren Blabey's theme, that being greedy often leaves us needy, finds its mark.

QUIET! SHHH! The Baby's Asleep by JaNay Brown-Woods

NOW DON'T MAKE A PEEP....

THE BABY'S ASLEEP!

Mom creeps out of the room on the quietest of feet, worrying that the slight creak of the floor will wake the baby, who is finally asleep!!

But there's a whole big family downstairs, each one with his or her own noise potential.

Daddy's hungry stomach rumbles and Granny's washing swishes, and Pop Pop's big ACHOOS might end Baby's snooze! Sister Shae's hair dryer's whir gets shushed, as well as Dante's little hammer and Rover's howls.

Now what's that loud noise from next door?

MR. YOUNG'S MOWER ROARS!

UH OH! WAAAHHHHHH!

That does it! The baby is awake and bawling. Then big brother has an idea.

"YOU KNOW, WHAT WE NEED IS A GOOD BOOK TO READ!"

And brother Dante is at least partly right. Daddy reads and Baby loves the book, while the rest of the family slip into sleep, in JaNay Brown-Woods' brand-new picture book, Shhh! The Baby's Asleep (Charlesbridge Press, 2021).

With clever rhyming couplets with plenty of onomatopoeic words just right for read-aloud fun, and with artist Elissabura's bright caricatures of a multigenerational family and colored lettering that tracks the sounds through the not-quite-quiet house, this is a fine story for all the families who have ever been hushed or shushed while baby sleeps, or not. Says Kirkus, "Delightful comic relief for every household with a baby."

Time to Move On: Ship In A Bottle by Andrew Prahin

CAT AND MOUSE LIVED TOGETHER. BUT THERE WERE PROBLEMS.

Mouse wanted to lie in a warm sunbeam and she wanted to eat gingersnaps. Cat wanted only one thing--to eat Mouse. Their desires were at cross purposes. It was an impasse.

But Mouse has a plan. On a sunny windowsill he finds an ornamental ship-in-a-bottle, fills it with gingersnaps and crawls inside to wait. As he expected, Cat pounces at it with both paws.

TINK-TINK!

BLOOP!

The bottle falls off the windowsill and splashes into the river below. It's a bon voyage launch as Mouse enjoys the view and nibbles on a gingersnap, but not for long

It seems seagulls like gingershaps, too, and Mouse drops her cookie and is forced to squeeze into the safety of the bottle as they sail downriver toward a port on the banks of a meadow, where she makes friends with nice rabbit. But when she shares a gingersnap with him, she discovers that he has a large family who ALL like gingersnaps!

Mouse has to shove off from shore. His gingersnaps are gone. His stomach is rumbling, and so is the sky. A storm sets in and Mouse is forced to disassemble the ship's sail to make a stopper for the bottle, and when the wind and rain cease, Mouse has to remove the ship's rudder to use as a paddle to reach shore. He was tired and hungry, and this voyage had not been what he expected.

MOUSE WAS MET BY A CHIPMUNK. "I DON'T HAVE ANY MORE GINGERSNAPS," HE TELLS HIM.

Chipmunk goes away and returns with a bunch of berries, and everyone seemed friendly.

IN THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED, MOUSE MET ALL SORTS OF NEW FRIENDS.

THERE WERE NO GINGERSNAPS, BUT MOUSE DISCOVERED FRENCH FRIES WHEN SOME NICE SEAGULLS INVITED HER TO DINNER.

Meanwhile the cat (remember the cat?) still waits mournfully on the same windowsill.

It's a case of "Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude" in Andrew Prahin's little parable of finding your place, Ship in a Bottle (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2021).

This is a folkloric tale that suggests with gently humor that sometimes you just have to "go where the weather suits your clothes," and that even if the voyage may be rough, berries can be as sweet as gingersnaps in a place where you really belong.

Raves Kirkus Review, "Delightful, pastel-colored cartoon illustrations beguile, competently suggesting place, atmosphere, and emotional heft; their varied presentation in full spreads and softly outlined panels very ably drives the text. Time spent in this bottle is well spent."

The Overnighter! Darcy's First Sleepover by Julie Fortenberry

Darcy really didn't mind going to bed at home. She liked her own strawberry toothpaste; she loved her stuffed snuggly, Little Cat, Dad's bedtime stories, and falling asleep to the sound of his doing the supper dishes in the kitchen.

But tonight will be different. She's going to sleepover at her cousin Kayla's house. Things are different there.

THEY ATE OUTSIDE AND HAD CELERY WITH PEANUT BUTTER.

DARCY WASN'T SURE SHE LIKED PEPPERMINT TOOTHPASTE.

She had to call Dad to ask him if Little Cat was all right.  Kayla had a tent with sleeping bags in her bedroom for them, and she loaned Darcy her Teddy bear. But right after her mother read them a bedtime story, Karla fell asleep. Darcy didn't. She heard the wind howling outside and something scratched at the window.

IT WAS SO DIFFERENT HERE. SHE MISSED HER DAD.

Darcy peeked out the window and saw the sound was just from a branch, blowing in the wind. The rain was ending and moon was visible, and she knew it was shining on Little Cat on her bed at home..

WHEN DARCY OPENED HER EYES, THE SUN WAS UP. THE MORNING SMELLED LIKE PANCAKES!

The two cousins ate their pancakes in the tent in Karla's room and started planning for Karla to come to her house for a sleepover next time, in Julie Fortenberry's latest, Darcy's First Sleepover, (Henry Holt and Company, 2021).

In this comforting story of a first night away from home, noted author-illustrator Julie Fortenberry's character takes on one of those important steps toward independence in the early years, the first sleepaway night, and she in turn invites her cousin Karla, who confesses she's never sleptover, to spend the night with her. Fortenberry's endearing little heroines with notably supportive parents portray the courage it takes for some kids to take that first step. This is a warm and emphathetic bedtime story for youngsters who are approaching their first night away. Another sympathetic milestone story by Julie Fortenbery is her Pearl Goes to Preschool.

"Sweetly encouraging . . . . A gentle, confidence-boosting volume," says Publishers Weekly".

Follow That Stench! Something Stinks by Jonathan Frenske

PEE-YEW! CAN YOU SMELL THAT?

NO? YOU'RE LUCKY! HOW STINKY IS IT?

Even if the stink is worse than rotten tuna, moldy cheese, or a sweaty gym sock which has been moldering in the laundry basket for ages, our courageous, self-sacrificing skunk promises to get to the bottom of this malodorous mystery.

Methodically, he moves from room to room. Aha! He spots something suspicious under the bed.

UNDERPANTS!

But these undies smell springtime fresh!

Still it seems as if a stinky cloud is following him everywhere he goes.

"I DON'T MEAN TO BE RUDE, BUT COULD IT BE YOU?"

Nope! The guest passes the sniff test with flying colors. O-k-a-y! The noxious cloud of stinkiness seems to follow Skunk wherever he goes. He's beginning to feel sick from the offensive odor. He waves the white flag of surrender!

"ACCCCK! FORGET IT! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

"THE STINK WINS! I GUESS WE'LL NEVER KNOW," SAYS SKUNK.

Accompanied by his companion odor connoisseur, a housefly, Skunk, cloud of stink still behind him, exits page right, leaving youngsters with a good case of the giggles, in Jonathan Frenske's latest snicker fest, Something Stinks! (Penguin Workshop/Random House, 2021).

Already the owner of a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Medal, for his 2016 A Pig, a Fox, and a Box (Penguin Young Readers, Level 2), author-illustrator Frenske offers this new metafictive title to even the youngest among us, who will appreciate the humor of this character who never guesses that the stench is, as all will guess, right under his nose. And for those with the stomach for stinky storytelling, pair this one with Walter the Farting Dog: Banned from the Beach (See my review here.)

Summertime Pail Tale! Blueberry Cake by Sarah Dillard

"BLUEBERRY CAKE?"

Baby Bear and Mama Bear are in the kitchen, and Baby Bear knows just what he wants to eat. But Mama knows what they need to fill that request. She hands Baby Bear a big red bucket.

"BLUEBERRIES."

Baby Bear sets off and makes his way through the woods until he finds a big field of blueberry bushes and fills his red pail with the juicy fruit, only to find the big juicy blueberries are just too tempting. He eats all he can hold and then jumps up to chase a butterfly, spilling the rest of the berries.

Baby Bear tries to placate Mama Bear by filling the pail with fresh-picked flowers, heading back home, and is seemingly surprised and sad that there are no berries in his bucket. At the door Mama Bear gives him THE LOOK--

"NO BLUEBERRIES?"

"NO BLUEBERRY CAKE!!"

Sadly Baby Bear goes to bed cake-less, but when he wakes up at dawn, he knows just what to do to get his blueberry cake. And when Mama Bear comes down to the kitchen, there is the red pail, full to the brink with blueberries. And SOON, there is...

BLUEBERRY CAKE!

Sarah Dillard's brand-new Blueberry Cake (Aladdin Books, 2021) provides a tasteful story with minimalist text and skillfully drawn illustrations that tell the story sweetly for preschoolers and early readers, but with a premise as old as human hunter-gatherers.

The interplay between mother and child is deliciously told with simple lines and facial expressions by author-illustrator Dillard, whose endearing afterword describes happy childhood visits to her grandmother's Maine coast kitchen where blueberry cake was also on the menu. This one is perfect for sharing with preschoolers and primary readers alike. Adds Booklist, "Dillard’s latest picture book shows how much can be done with a limited number of words (blueberry, blueberries, cake, flowers, oh, no, and applesauce), a period, a question mark, and an exclamation point.

For fruitful fall reads, share this one with Robert McClosky's classic, Blueberries for Sal, and taking the hint from Baby Bear's closing request for applesauce, with Gail Gibbons' evergreen The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree.

Down to the Basics! Line and Scribble by Debra Vogrig

Line and Scribble couldn't be any more different. Line sticks to the ruler, and Scribble never does. Line likes rules, and Scribble doesn't have any!

LINE GOES STRAIGHT BY PLANE OR BY TRAIN.

SCRIBBLE TAKES A RIDE ON THE ROLLER COASTER.

Line is 100% a straight arrow. Scribble meanders. Her shape is always changing, like clouds or fluffy cats.

LINE ELEGANTLY COMBS HER HAIR STRAIGHT.

SCRIBBLE CURLS HER HAIR WITH STYLE!

Line offers Scribble a breadstick. But Line prefers cotton candy!

Can these opposites EVER get together? Will these opposites ever MEET?

Of course they can and do, as every artist will tell you, in author Debra Vogrig's and artist Pia Valentinia's just published, Line and Scribble (Chronicle Books, 2021). Kids love to play "Same and Different," and Line and Scribble certainly provide plenty of fun identifying straight and curvy things in their world, and yet--most things have both qualities! Artist Valentina chooses the colors red and black, executed with smooth and rough textures in a very attractive design that keeps youngsters turning the pages to see what appears next and eager to experiment with their own combinations of straight and curved lines.

School Library Journal says, "A delightful celebration of individuality, creativity, and friendship; a valuable addition to most collections.”