Passing the Baton! Harold and Hog Pretend for Real by Dan Santat and Mo Willems

"LOOK!"

"WHAT AT?"

"I FOUND A BOOK ABOUT ELEPHANT AND PIGGIE!"

"THOSE ARE TWO OF OUR FAVORITES!"

"LET'S READ IT TOGETHER!

Harold and Hog are great admirers of Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books and they think they have found one! And inside the book, there are their role models--Gerald the Elephant and Piggie, inviting them inside.

Gerald gives Harold some glasses, just like his, and Piggie gives Hog a cuter, pinker, piggier nose, and the two amateurs are ready to do impersonations of their heroes.

BOOP! BOOP!

"LOOK!" SAYS HAROLD."I AM GERALD!"

"SEE, HAROLD!" SAYS HOG. "I AM PIGGIE!"

But subbing for Elephant and Piggie does NOT come easy. It takes more than a bit of costuming to get inside those iconic characters.

Hog finds Piggie's devil-may-care attitude hard to assume. Smiling and dancing... and flying? Eeek!

"THAT SOUNDS SCARY!" SAYS HOG.

Harold finds that he has far too much sang-froid to act timid like Gerald.

The two would-be impersonators look at each other. Are they failures at playing Gerald and Piggie? Then Harold has a happier thought. Maybe they do have the right stuff for their roles after all.

"THEY ARE BEST FRIENDS LIKE US!"

And here comes Pigeon!

"HI, PIGEON. WOULD YOU LIKE TO DRIVE THE BUS?" ASKS HOG.

And in the new partnership of Mo Willems and the noted author-illustrator Dan Santat, Harold and Hogi are metafictionally launched into Elephant and Piggie, THE SEQUEL, in the new Elephant and Piggie Like Reading! Harold and Hog Pretend For Real! series (Disney Hyperion, 2019). It's quite a tour-de-force for the two power author-illustrators to audition new characters to take over the franchise, especially when the personalities of Harold and Hog and Gerald and Piggie are switched, with Hog being the play-it-safe character and Harold the Elephant being the daring, flight-of-fancy leader, but with Santat's artistic skill in characterization, Hog and Harold make quite a talented pair of comic best buddies, too. Says Kirkus Reviews, "A hoot for readers who already know Elephant and Piggie... with the frame story contributed by Mo Willems, Santat creates yet another early reader that is at once playful, self-aware, and perceptive in its exploration of the differences of personalities and the complications (or simplicities) of friendship."

The Thought That Counts! Thank You, Mr. Panda by Steve Anthony

"Who are all these presents for, Mr. Panda?"

Mr. Panda is carefully prepping a package for Mouse, wrapped in paper printed with his trademark colorfully sprinkled donuts and tied with a big, floppy bow.

Lemur is curious. He trails along behind as Mr. Panda presents his gift to Mouse.

It's a nice sweater, but when he tries it on, Mouse loses sight of his hands and feet.

"It's too BIG!

"It's the thought that counts!" says Lemur (sagely).

Octopus receives six long, knitted socks, embellished with more donuts.  But, er,

"I have EIGHT legs!" he complains.

But the loyal Lemur adds that what counts is the thought behind the gift.

Elephant gets a similarly wrapped gift but carries it off page, saying he'll open it another time. Lemur is speechless.

Mountain goat gets a scarf, which he dutifully ties around his neck in a bow, but clearly the gift kinda gets his goat.

"It's too LONG!"

Lemur hastens to add his reassurance that the motive is the message, so to speak. There's just one lovely, donut-print-wrapped gift left. Lemur pointedly wonders out loud who the lucky recipient may be. And Mr. Panda says that this present is for Lemur himself.

"Thank you, Mr. Panda!"

Lemur rips eagerly into the wrappings, only to find that his gift is a generously over-sized pair of donut-printed tighty whities.

Lemur is, shall we say, more nonplussed than pleased. Now, what can Mr. Panda say to that as he nonchalantly strolls off-page?

Mr. Panda gets the last line, which young readers will hasten to chime in on, in Steve Anthony's latest chapter in his ongoing story of our current etiquette expert, Mr. Panda, Thank You, Mr. Panda (Scholastic Press, 2017 Am. ed.) Author Steve Anthony is a master of understated drollery, while slyly instructing his young readers in the niceties of manners, and his whimsical illustrations are good for some giggles, as are his final endpapers showing all the gift recipients modeling their gifts. Earlier books in this series are Please, Mr. Panda (A Board Book) and I'll Wait, Mr Panda: Board Book. (Read reviews here.)

With All Deliberate Speed! Mervin the Sloth Is About To Do the Best Thing in the World by Colleen AF Venable

"THERE YOU ARE, MERVIN!

WHAT ARE YOU...."

While Mervin seemingly stands motionless, monumental block letters drop one by one onto the page, stating that Mervin the sloth is about to do the best thing in the world.

Clearly Mervin is not the most demonstrative of buddies, but his friends are intrigued. Raccoon is impressed with Mervin's cool promo. Just then Bird soars into the scene and with a THWACK collides with the giant M.

"WHO PUT THESE LETTERS HERE?"

Immediately Raccoon and Bird begin to speculate about what best thing Mervin is about to do.

Bird declares that it is, of course, flying, but two gophers pop out of their burrows and declare that the best thing is definitely digging. Gazelle leaps about the page and demonstrates his choice--gazelling!

Bird doubts there is even such a word.

Soon there is a crowd of curious critters in a crush around the apparently still sloth--all speculating just what amazing deed Mervin will do. Will he do all their homework? Invent the way-back machine? They mill around, gesturing and postulating.

But Mervin's pals can't perceive any progress toward the occurrence of the purported Best Thing any time soon. They gradually drift off to pursue their own passions, flying, digging, and gazelling, whatever that is, all but the stalwart Red Panda.

It's a moving experience, and for Mervin the Sloth that's a big deal!

Red Panda perseveres and is rewarded in the fullness of sloth time, in Colleen AF Venable's new Mervin the Sloth Is About to Do the Best Thing in the World (HarperCollins, 2016), earning himself the payoff for his patience.

Author Venable pared-down narration builds the suspense, but the payoff for the reader lies in artist Ruth Chan's deliberate draftsman-like drawings. Very observant readers may perceive infinitesimal changes in Mervin's seeming immobile body on each successive page, as slowly, S-L-O-W-L-Y, his arms rise to get ready for the best thing in the world. To get a hug from a sloth takes time, but apparently it's worth it. All things come to him who waits, and persistent and sharp-eyed primary grade readers will get the last big laugh. "...[The] cartoon choreographing of the argumentative cast crackle with silly energy," remarks Kirkus Reviews.

Spoiler Alert! Let Me Finish! by Minh LE

Ah! Nothing like a quiet spot and a good book!"

Except... it's not. Just as our bespectacled young reader settles down under a tree to get into his book, his attention is interrupted by a small flock of self-styled feathered book critics:

"OOH! I loved that book!" gushes a bird from the tree.

"Me, too!" says a blackbird. "Can you believe his best friend turns out to be a robot? "And..". adds a red bird, "her hat was actually a time machine?"

The little reader protests that he's just trying to read the first page, flees further into the forest, and spots a solitary cave. Ah, peace at last.

But a bear ambles in, and taking note of the book, asks if he's gotten to the page where the little dog runs off. But not to worry....

"Grandma to the rescue!" he volunteers.

"LET ME FINISH!" THE BOY SHOUTS!

But no matter where he tries to settle down, our young reader runs into some critter who's already read the book and just has to tell him all about the best part!

If this kid is ever going to get into this book, desperate measures are called for--a metabook move! He's literally got to get inside the book, and  with a literary leap of faith, he does, right through the page.

Authors these days can't seem to resist throwing in a touch of old metafiction trick, and Minh Le's Let Me Finish! (Hyperion Books, 2016) is no exception, although with a wink and a nudge, the author can't resist letting the characters inside the book be the spoilers for a change. Savvy young readers who are up on their Herve' Tullet (see reviews here) will be hep to what's going on, and artist Isabel Rexas gets into the act with her goofy cartoon-style animal characters in fanciful colors that move the story, left to right, deftly across the pages to ... you guessed it!... THE END.

More Fun Than A Barrel of Monkeys! Chimpanzees for Tea by Jo Empson

Mum's in a swivet. The cupboard's getting a bit bare, and it's almost teatime! Vincent's engrossed in perfecting his soapbox racer, but Mum orders him off to the shops for a few groceries.

"A BUNCH OF CARROTS, A BOX OF RICE, SOME TASTY CHEESE, A BIG, FIRM PEAR, A CAN OF PEAS--AND HURRY HOME FOR TEA!"

Grabbing the list, Vincent jumps into the driver's seat of his racer and rolls down the hill toward town.  But as he waves to his friend Mr. Singh, the list blows away. Oh, dear, he thinks. He runs through the list in his mind.

"... a big. firm pear, and... a trapeze?"

But just as he's almost back on track, he spots a circus parade, with a stilt walker in the lead. Momentarily distracted, he tries to repeat the list back to himself.... Let's see... "A bunch of carrots ... a big furry bear, and a trapeze?"

With each distraction, Vincent's mind comes up with a new substitution to Mum's list, all in perfect rhyme. Fortunately, the traveling circus comes up with everything on Vincent's mental list, and he leads them all back to his house for tea!

"A BRANCH OF PARROTS, A BOX OF MICE, SOME CHIMPANZEES, A BIG, FURRY BEAR, AND A TRAPEZE."

All present and accounted for just in time for a proper British tea, in Jo Empson's tale of a strangely riotous shopping spree, Chimpanzees for Tea! (Philomel Books, 2016). With an author's nod to the oft-used "telephone game" plot, and with page design that emphasizes the brawling, sprawling nature of the story, a cast of comic critter characters, all in a swirl of movement, this one turns what is usually a humdrum errand that is everykid's idea of a bit of a bloody bore into an outrageously fanciful adventure. A ho-hum teatime turns into a party, ending with an sympathetic furry bear serving an overwhelmed Mum a much-needed cup of tea! "... A perfect read-aloud for all ages and a great memory game to play with school-age kids." says School Library Journal.

Ban the Bot? Ray Bot by Adam F. Watkins

THIS IS RAYBOT.

HE LIVES ALL ALONE IN A JUNKYARD AND DOESN'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS.

Poor lonely Raybot lives in his very own rust belt. With not a pal in sight, Ray is forced to play both sides of his castoff checker board.

Poking around the place, he notices a handbill with a slogan that intrigues him:

Your puppy deserves the best, because he's your best friend.

BARK! BARK!

Raybot sets out of his junkyard into the wide world. If he can just find a puppy who says "Bark! Bark!" he will have a best friend. All he has to do is find him.

But as Raybot learns, there are a lot of creatures in the wide world. The first two he meets are quite friendly, but one goes BAA! and the other says BAWK BAWK!

Close, but no BARK BARK!

As Raybot wanders the world, he finds many amiable critters, who moo and oink, quack and growl. A hippo huffs out his HU-HU-HUURUUGH!  A monkey comes out with a spirited OOO-OOO-AH-AH and a snake has nothing more friendly to say than a hisssssss!

Raybot continues his globe-trotting, and finally finds himself in a rain forest. He spots a gorgeous parrot and tries his hopeful greeting:

BARK??

And at last he hears what he has been hoping for:

BARK!

A puppy! A best friend at last!

And ironically, with his best friend "puppy" on his shoulder, Raybot meets up with an equally friendly critter who says "WOOF!"

Friends come in all shapes and voices, in Adam F. Watkins' latest, Raybot (Price Stern and Sloan Books, 2016), a promising premise, and a plot that helps youngsters learn to recognize animals and animal sounds along the way. Watkins portrays his charming little Raybot and his potential animal friends with jolly verve, and preschoolers will chuckle at his adoption of a parrot who just happens to be able to sound like a puppy. Pair this one with Watkins' earlier R Is for Robot: A Noisy Alphabet.

Sleepytime How-To! Good Night Like This by Mary Murphy

YAWNY AND DOZY,
TWITCHY AND COZY,
GOOD NIGHT, LITTLE RABBIT.

Little ones meet sleep in many ways, in Mary Murphy's adorable little book in praise of drowsing off to dreamland, in her Good Night Like This (Candlewick Press, 2016).

FLITTY AND SHINY,

FLASHY AND TINY

GOOD NIGHT, FIREFLIES. SLEEP TIGHT.

Author Murphy uses evocative rhyming adjectives to describe how a variety of creatures go to rest, some at night, and some, like the firefly, snuggled safely away during the day. Beetles, bears, and birds, kittens and caterpillars, frogs and fireflies, most have Mama close by to wish them a "Good night"or a "Sleep tight" to ease the way to sleep. Artist Murphy's two-page spreads of each creature settling down to sleep are lovely, with parent and child shown in soft, muted shades of brown or gray, with textured blackline outlines, a glowing pastel sunset, (or in the case of the firefly, a dawn), or a twilight or deep night, with their chosen resting place shown surrounded with silhouetted flora set against the blue or purple sky. Each double-page spread also has a half-page flap, in which a turn reveals the young one drowsing off to a sweet wish for a sweet sleep. Soft and gentle text and illustrations set the mood magically for going gently into a good night, which is, after all, what all parents wish.

"Move over, Goodnight Moon. There's a new star on the bedtime bookshelf," says Kirkus in its starred review.

Not Just Another Cute Face! Extremely Cute Animals Operating Heavy Machinery by David Gordon

ONE BEAUTIFUL SUMMER DAY, KAREN, AN EXTREMELY CUTE ANIMAL, WAS AT THE PLAYGROUND MAKING A SAND CASTLE.

It's an idyllic scene--Karen, an exemplary and endearingly tutu-ed little pink rabbit is busy sculpting a charming little medieval village with her cunning little plastic shovel and pail, surrounded by equally engaging and cute chums.

But this is no pink paradise! Enter the bad guys--Skylar, the head honcho, and his henchmen Mike and Trent, who declare this a cute-free zone.

WHAT DID I SAY, KAREN?

I SAID THIS IS MY PLAYGROUND AND NO STUPID SAND CASTLES!

Down come the cute castles and lovely little cottages. SMASH! CRASH!

Still the dainty Karen is undaunted, and she and her cute cronies rebuild the village, bigger and better, and with a moat to keep the riff-raff out.

But the bully boys were just waiting for the chance to crush the castle, crash the cottages, and maul the moat once more.

Okay, that's it!

EXTREMELY CUTE... DOESN'T MEAN ... YOU CAN'T GET EXTRA MAD!

The cutesy crew commandeers the construction equipment in the park--the heavy-duty dozer and the sky-crane 'copter--to steamroll the bullies and build the biggest and best playground ever. Karen wields her acetylene torch welding girders without scorching her tutu, and Josh pilots the copter to construct a veritable Taj Mahal of a water slide and bumper car track, surrounded by a stout security fence, all with...

NO BULLIES ALLOWED!

But you should never underestimate the empathetic qualities of extremely cute animals, in David Gordon's Extremely Cute Animals Operating Heavy Machinery (Simon and Schuster, 2016), as the almost excessively cute critters craft a truce with Skyler and his mean-spirited minions, and peace reigns over the play space. Gordon slyly slips in a bit of satire at the expense of the cuddly cast of characters in many a fanciful animal tale, in which all ends in extreme peace in the playground--where everyone agrees to limit the occasional smashing and stomping to their own castles only.

Mom's Never Too Busy! Busy, Busy by Eileen Spinelli

FROG IS VERY BUSY LEAPING.
BEAVER HAS NO TIME TO PLAY.

MAMA BIRD IS BUSY TEACHING
LITTLE BIRD TO FLY AWAY.

It seems everyone is busy in the springtime. Bees buzz back and forth to the hive, and bears work at fattening themselves up after the long winter. Mama Duck has got eggs to hatch, while Groundhog is checking the warming ground for his shadow.

Raccoon forages in the trash, and Squirrel's busy building his stash.

Even Mom is busy setting out seedlings in her spring garden.

MOMMY'S BUSY,
ALWAYS BUSY,

SHE HAS LOTS OF WORK TO DO.
BUT SHE'D NEVER BE TOO BUSY...
FOR A CUDDLE-UP WITH YOU!

It's first things first for Mom, who always has time for a kiss and snuggle with her little helper in his yellow gardening boots, because that's what moms do, in Eileen Spinelli's just published board book, Busy, Busy! (WorthyKids, 2016). Spinelli, a mother of six children and a noted wordsmith, poet and storyteller for the very young, knowa what it means to be a busy mom, but not too busy to give mothers their due in this gentle story.

Heavy Lifting! The Turnip by Jan Brett

BADGER GIRL SAW SOMETHING STRANGE GROWING IN THE GARDEN.

IT WAS THE BIGGEST TURNIP SHE HAD EVER SEEN!

We're not talking big. We're talking BIG!

Badger Girl's thoughts go straight to dreams of how many delicious dinners might come from such a ginormous turnip. Pottage of turnip! Turnip pie! She watches the turnip grow, just waiting for it to be ripe for the picking.

As the weather grows chill and a few snowflakes appear, Badger Girl's thoughts turn to harvesting the turnip. She snatches the stem and gives a tug.

It doesn't budge. Badger Boy flexes his mighty muscles and tells his sister to help him pull the turnip out of the ground. No progress.

"CHILDREN!" SAID MOTHER BADGER. "I CAN WRENCH THAT TURNIP RIGHT OUT THE THE GROUND WITH A TWIST AND SNAP!

WATCH AND LEARN!"

But the turnip doesn't move for Mama. Papa Badger laughs and has them all step aside for his turn, but Father fails, too.

Passersby offer to help. Forming a chain of yankers, Hedgie grabs the turnip top and gives it a heave-ho, but it's a NO GO! Adding Mr. Ram and Vanya the Horse to the chain of pullers is of no avail.

Finally a scrawny but cocky rooster, in a buoyant mood from having dodged the soup pot again, comes along and crows that he himself can easily pull up the turnip. The others are dubious, but he grips the stem in his beak....

Will the turnip stay in the ground until spring?

But careful readers or veteran Jan Brett fans will already know what's actually going to get that turnip out of the ground, in her latest, The Turnip (Penguin Group, 2015). As is her usual wont, Brett surrounds the action on each page with her familiar rococo frame, and appropriately in this case, it's a turnip-shaped frame, in the corners of which are vignettes which foreshadow the conclusion--the Bear family heading into their underground den only to find the root of an enormous turnip blocking their winter bed. Hibernation calls, and the bulky Bears come together to give it a shove straight up just at the right moment to make the braggadocious Rooster the hero of the tale.

And it's turnip pancakes for all, and a winter's worth of more delicious turnip dishes waiting in the Badger larder, in Brett's delightful cumulative tale, itself harvested from the Russian folktale The Enormous Turnip first penned by no less than Alexei Tolstoy. Embellished in Jan Brett's signature folkloric illustrative style, with the customary tasty detail, color, and crafty anthropormorphic caricatures of her feisty animal characters, this latest seasonal Brett treat is a fine feast for the winter holiday season by one of modern masters of the picture book art.

Afternoon Angling: Bear and Hare Go Fishing by Emily Gravett

BEAR AND HARE ARE GOING FISHING.
BEAR LOVES FISHING.

Hare? Maybe not so much, as he gives a can of wiggly worms a fishy look.

But Bear presents him with a fitting fishing hat, complete with the traditionally fashionable fishing flies around the crown. There is only one rod, which Bear gaily shoulders and sets of with his fish line trailing right off the page.

Hare, however, is left to schlep the rest of the gear--a net, tackle box, and the picnic basket.

Finally Bear reaches his favorite bank of the lake and rares back for a big cast, hooking Hare's hat on the backlash. Not a fortuitous way to start a fishing expedition.

And Bear's luck is all bad. He snags an indignant frog. Hare busies himself by arranging the gear on the grass and laying out their repast, including a large pink-frosted cake. Now he's bored.

But not for long. Bear hooks something big that bends his rod way down. With an impressive yank, Bear hauls up his catch--a roller skate which lands--right in the mddle of Hare's pink cake.

Things are not going swimmingly. Bear grows bored and begins to nod off. Hare fiddles with some flowers, and tentatively begins a daisy chain to pass the time. Bear dozes off, and Hare's chain grows longer and longer, trailing right into the pond....

And when a giant goldfish decides to sample the dangling daisies, Bear's fishing fortunes change with a splash-bang in Emily Gravett's Bear & Hare Go Fishing (Simon and Schuster, 2015). Gravett wryly portrays the differences in personality in this odd couple of friends and slyly foreshadows the sudden BIG catch in charming illustrations which will draw young readers back to earlier pages for further close examination.

The illustrator's shaggy Bear closely resembles her character in her earlier hit, Orange Pear Apple Bear (Classic Board Books) and bears a beary close resemblance to Bonnie Becker's grumpy bear in A Visitor for Bear (Bear and Mouse), another story of unlikely friendship, with a nod to Lobel's classic couple of friends, in Frog and Toad Are Friends. Gravett's illustrator honors include Britain's Kate Greenaway Prize, the parallel of our Caldecott Award, for her flat-out funny Wolves. Even the copyright page shows off Gravett's creative chops, with the publishing information in very fine print forming the line trailing from Bear's fishing rod.

Emily Gravett is an extraordinarily gifted author-illustrator, and Bear and Hare are a pair made in storybook heaven!

Says School Library Journal, "... Surprisingly simple at first glance, this title is filled to the gills with charm and cleverness."

Paramedic Parrots? Daisy to the Rescue by Jeff Campbell

Diphtheria was spreading rapidly in Nome in 1925 and children were dying. But the only way to deliver the life-saving antitoxin was by dog sled, a treacherous trip of up to twenty-five days from Fairbanks.

Driver Seppala and his lead dog Togo were selected for the team of drivers to make the difficult emergency run, part of which crossed a frozen inlet of the Arctic Ocean. But crossing that treacherous strip of shifting ice in driving winds and snow was necessary to get the vital serum to Nome in time to save some of its children. And when Togo led his team across Norton Inlet, the worst thing possible happened. Beneath Togo's feet the ice cracked and split apart.

They were on a floe drifting out to sea.

Eventually, Seppala and Togo found a five-foot gap. It was too far to jump the sled, so Seppala tied a long Lead to Togo and heaved the dog across water. The dog dug in and strained on the lead, trying to pull the floe to him.

Then the lead broke and slipped into the water. Togo and Seppala faced each other, distraught. "Seppala was speechless. He had just been given a death sentence."

Togo could have chosen to save himself, but on his own he made the kind of decision a lead dog makes.

He dived into the freeing water to snatch the lead in his teeth and climb back onto the far ice. He then rolled over the line till it was wrapped several times around his shoulders, and he pulled and kept pulling until the floe was near enough for Seppala and the team to leap across.

The life-saving serum was delivered in a record six days by the dogsled teams, and Togo became a historic canine hero, the inspiration for the annual Iditarod sled race.  But Togo is but one in the long history of animal heroes--fifty domestic pets, service and rescue animals, or legendary ones, covered in Jeff Campbell's Daisy to the Rescue: True Stories of Daring Dogs, Paramedic Parrots, and Other Animal Heroes (Zest, 2014).  There are dogs who alert their owners to danger from heart and blood sugar problems, but also Dory the rabbit and Pudding the Maine coon cat who also sense high or low blood sugar and save their owners. There are horses and dolphins who help autistic children learn to interact and speak, dolphins who fight off a shark attack or tow a swimmer to safety, and an elephant who alerts a village and leads them uphill to save them from a tsunami. There is Lulu the pot-bellied pig who stops traffic to save a fallen human, and Willie the parrot who suddenly comes up with new words--"Mama, Baby!" to summon help for a choking child.

With generous documentation of these animal heroes, this is a book with wide appeal to readers of almost any age, from elementary kids to adults.  "Campbell draws on opinions from professionals and anecdotal evidence, gleaned from ancient to modern times, to understand animal motivations. ...The text flows well, and the compact content is intense... . The documentation shines in this presentation." says School Library Journal.

Bad Moon Rising? The Full Moon at the Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood

THERE IS A HOUSE,
A FULL MOON HOUSE,
WHERE EVERYONE IS RESTLESS.

Called the lunatic moon by the ancients, the rise of the full moon has a certain power in its white light--the power to make living things wakeful and--restless.

There is a wide-awake bed in that house, its pillows still plumped from the morning, its coverlet unturned, as Granny and her gold-striped cat gaze out the window at the moonrise.

A boy with carroty curls reaches under the chair for his own silver orb, his ball.

AND WITH THAT GRANNY
THERE IS A CHILD,
A FIDGETY CHILD
WITH A SLEEPLESS GRANNY
IN A WIDE-AWAKE BED.

A shaggy white dog rises from his rug and joins the ball game, while the cat glares at the two and Granny stretches and and stares wide-eyed at the ceiling. Even a little grey mouse appears on the wash stand and peers at something that has just landed on the bottom window sash.

The boy mounts the foot of the bed and tosses the ball to the dog, as Granny despairs of sleep and the cat stalks the mouse.

Granny covers her head as the prowling cat leaps for the wary mouse, who jumps for the windowsill, as the dog dives for the ball.

The bed is rumpled. The mouse is harried by the cat, and as the full moon rides high...

EVERYONE IS RESTLESS.
UNTIL...

A CHIRPING CRICKET
SINGS HIS ....
FULL MOON SONG...

and soon there's a soothed mouse, a calm cat and a drowsy dog, a snugly child and a sleepytime story from Granny...

IN THE FULL-MOON HOUSE

WHERE NO ONE NOW IS RESTLESS.

Twenty-six years after their award-winning classic The Napping House was published Author and illustrator pair Audrey and Don Wood have added a companion cumulative bedtime story, just published on September 1, The Full Moon at the Napping House (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015) is riding high in the firmament of notable stories for young children, this one a perfect bedtime story to bring the stories full circle. Don Wood's lovely moon-washed illustrations in a subdued palette of blues and lavenders repeat the full-moon's curve in the bed, the curled-up dog and cat and the mirror as Granny and child cuddle for the last page of the story and a welcome good night. A perfect sequel to a classic early childhood tale, together two stories which no child should miss.

The Past Is Prologue: Malcolm Under the Stars by W. H. Beck

When Malcolm, Mr. Binney's classroom pet rat, learns that his special nutter friend Amanda is moving away, he thinks that is the worst thing that could happen. But that night there is an emergency meeting of the Midnight Society, and his world seems to crumble beneath him.

Honey Bunny's whiskers twitched at Malcolm. Tank the turtle finished in a rush. "They're saying the electrical system may not be up to code. They'll have to rewire the whole school, which will make the boiler room incident look like loose change. The whole thing--well, it was proposed tonight that maybe McKenna's time has come."

It was Malcolm who stepped forward. "Time for what? Repairs?"

Tank pulled his head inside his shell. "It's official now. The school board has scheduled two "listening sessions, where lankies can say what they think. And then they'll vote." Polly the parakeet and Tank exchanged looks. "They're talking about closing the school."

For longer than the memories of any of the classroom pets whose secret Midnight Academy has looked out for the welfare of their school--the lankies (teachers) and the nutters (students)--McKenna Elementary has been their home. Sure, fifth graders graduated, but there were always new nutters who needed them. But now, with major structural problems everywhere, it looked like the city was determined to terminate McKenna Elementary and disperse their own nutters and lankies to two other schools.

But Malcolm and others of the Midnight Academy rally to save the school. They uncover the history behind McKenna, once Clearwater's only high school, and get the nutters to present a program with a plea to preserve the historic school, to rally graduates of the high school and former students to keep it alive. And in the course of their investigations of old high school annuals on a bottom shelf in the library, they uncover a legend, the mysterious philanthropist who funded their now crumbling auditorium and gym, and a series of coded hobo ciphers which hint of a time capsule from 1938 and a "Loaded Stash" that might just cover the cost of the old building's repairs and more. But none of the "Inside critters" currently serving as class pets have memories that go back to that time to help find that stash in time to save their school.

Unless.... Malcolm remembers how he saved Beert the barn owl, trapped in the clock tower, and how Beert had introduced him to some of the "Outside critters" who had helped him save the school from the evil cat Snip's plan to poison the nutters' water supply. Desperate, Malcolm screws up his courage to ask the legendary Striped Shadow across the river in his abandoned factory redoubt for help.

And then...the Shadow tells him that there is one critter living there, one whose memory from kittenhood goes back far enough to link them to the secret of the Stash.

Malcolm can't believe it, but that critter is Snip, the feral cat who haunted McKenna School, the villain he though he had vanquished in the boiler episode, the only one who may know how to find the hidden secret that can save their school and keep the Midnight Academy critters together with their nutters and lankies.

As William Faulkner famously said, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." And Malcolm's midnight quest under the stars indeed reveals that the past is still alive, a past that provides a way to a totally surprising ending that promises a future for McKenna Elementary School, in W. H. Beck's eagerly awaited Malcolm Under the Stars (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015). Malcolm, a mere runty ratling who gains entry to Mr. Binney's classroom by pretending mousehood, is the intrepid crusader who leads the way to save his fellow critters' mission to befriend and mentor future nutters on their way to growing up. A engrossing history mystery, with colorful and courageous critter characters and a cast of varied and resourceful kids and teachers who come together to save their community makes for a page-turning adventure that has a lot to say about the courage, perseverance, and initiative it takes to maintain any community.

For a perfect classroom read-aloud, pair this one with its noted prequel, Malcolm at Midnight (see my 2012 review here.)

Guess Who Coming to Dinner? Never Ask a Dinosaur to Dinner! by Gareth Edwards

NEVER ASK A DINOSAUR TO DINNER.

BECAUSE A T. REX IS FEROCIOUS
AND HIS MANNERS ARE ATROCIOUS!

A dino for dinner is more than able to eat it all, even the table.

And while you're brushing your teeth after supper, don't be too generous with that toothbrush if there's a shark at hand. He's got way too many teeth. And don't share the bathroom sink with a beaver! He won't be able to resist the flowing water, and you'll find yourself with a beaver dam flooding the premises.

PLEASE DON'T LET A BARN OWL IN YOUR BED.

BECAUSE THE FIRST THING YOU'LL LEARN'LL

BE THAT A BARN OWL IS NOCTURNAL!

In his debut American picture book, Gareth Edwards' Never Ask a Dinosaur to Dinner (Scholastic Press, 2015) recounts in rollicking rhyme all the critters a kid should not invite in before bedtime. A tiger makes a grumpy towel, a bison is too bulky to be a blanket, and, oh, yeah ... they don't call them night owls for nothin'!

Edwards fearlessly finds plenty of multi-syllabic rhyming words that double as vocabulary builders, and noted English illustrator Guy Parker-Rees' exuberant cartoons add just the right touch of absurdity to make this a silly and sybilant tale a great sleepytime readaloud. And don't worry that the humorous sight gags will get the kids out of the bedtime mode, because Edwards and Parker-Rees bring it on home in a timely fashion, with a cozy closing involving a super-soporific Teddy bear and a flock of sedate sheep to count just in time for lights out!

Reap What You Sow: If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson

IF YOU PLANT A TOMATO SEED,

A CARROT SEED, AND A CABBAGE SEED

WITH LOVE AND CARE

TOMATO, CARROT, AND CABBAGE PLANTS WILL GROW.

Rabbit and Mouse join forces to plant a garden, guarding their plot as the rain and sun coax seedlings out of the ground to leaf out in the sun. Soon the plants bear fruit, and the two proud gardeners dance a jig of joy.

But all unnoticed, the two farmers' efforts have been watched from above, and soon that plague of gardeners, a big black crow, swoops down to help himself to the bounty, followed by a blue jay, a cardinal, a dove, and a finch.

It's a standoff, as the rodents shout that the fruits of their labor should be theirs and the crow and his cronies scream that they are there to claim a share. A battle royale follows, and soon the neat garden is in shambles, a mess of smashed cherry tomatoes and splintered stalks and leaves.

This is NOT working.

IF YOU PLANT A SEED OF SELFISHNESS

IN TIME IT WILL GROW...

Then Mouse picks up one cherry tomato and hesitantly proffers it as a peace offering, With a truce in place, Rabbit and Mouse and their new feathered friends and their friends share what's left of the garden.

And these are friends with benefits. As gardeners know, birds have their own way of planting seeds, and to the delight of all, a new garden soon sprouts, this one from the many varied seeds that the birds bring--sweet melons, corn, rhubarb, and sunflowers as well--and there is a bountiful crop to feed all comers. a duck and a chicken, a squirrel and a raccoon.

THE FRUITS OF KINDNESS

ARE VERY, VERY SWEET.

Kadir Nelson's latest, If You Plant a Seed (Balzer + Bray Books, 2015) illustrates the mastery of the multiple award-winning Nelson in the art of the picture book. His spare text is a simple parable, every word just right, and his artwork is gorgeous, each bit of fur and feather gleaming with light and life. The humor in the body language of his animals, in their yelling contest and their free-for-all food fight, serves as a counterweight to the sweetness of the final sharing of their mutual harvest. There is a powerful premise at work here, set off by illustrations, at once realistic and interpretive, that show why Nelson has earned Caldecott and Coretta Scott King awards aplenty is his illustrious illustrative career. "A skillfully crafted story about the literal and allegorical fruits of the seeds we plant," points out Publishers Weekly.

Taking On The Thunder! The Rhino Who Swallowed the Storm by LeVar Burton

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MORNING, MICA MOUSE TREMBLED UNDER HER BLANKET. RAIN CRASHED. WIND RATTLED THE SHUTTERS.

MORE THAN ANYTHING, MICA MOUSE WAS AFRAID OF STORMS.

Mica had been through a destructive hurricane the year before, and for her, rain and thunder automatically means bad things to follow.

Papa Mouse wants to soothe his daughter, so he chooses a bit of bibliotherapy in a story in which a magical blue rhino is able to swallow a thunderstorm. But Little Rhino discovers that having a scary storm inside of him doesn't exactly make him feel sunny!

LIKE A TORNADO HE SPUN AS THE STORM RAGED INSIDE.

Little Rhino turns to his friend for help--Turtle, the Bees, Kangaroo, Whale--all tell him that there is hope ahead. Spider spins out some advice.

YOU WILL FIND MORE HELPERS ON YOUR ROAD TO TOMORROW.

For children for whom lightning and thunder are really scary, LeVar Burton, star of the Reading Rainbow series, offers a story of a Little Rhino who learns to overcome the feelings inside himself, in his The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm (Reading Rainbow, 2014). Younger preschoolers may find Burton's metaphor in this fable confusing, conflating rational fears of a deadly tropical storm with a sort of upset tummy for the fantastical rhino hero who vanquishes the storm. There is, however, a comforting theme that there are always others to provide care in tough times, Courtney Fletcher's illustrations are charming, soothing, and lovely, and Burton appends a section,“Take a Deeper Look” which offers help in talking out both irrational and very real fears. For the storm sensitive among younger readers, try Jamie Swenson's humorous take in Boom! Boom! Boom! and Mary Lynn Ray's easy-going tale of a thunder-phobic pooch, BOOM!: Big, Big Thunder & One Small Dog.

Santa Paws? The Animals' Santa by Jan Brett

IT'S YOUR FIRST CHRISTMAS EVER, LITTLE SNOW."

THE ANIMALS' SANTA COMES TONIGHT," BIG SNOWSHOE TOLD HIS LITTLE BROTHER.

"I THINK YOU ARE FOOLING ME," SAID LITTLE SNOW.

The little snowshoe hare is skeptical. Who could this Santa be? Hasn't anyone ever found his tracks? Somebody must have seen him!

Little Shoe sets out on a fact-finding mission. He interviews Porcupine, Squirrel, Raven, and Arctic Fox, who describe how the gifts just seemed to drop from above for them. They each have their own ideas--from a mouse to a white wolf--but Little Shoe thinks they are all wrong. And he's going to prove it.

Meanwhile Big Snowshoe decides it is time to put up some Christmas decorations, and breaking the ice on the stream, he hangs the frozen shards from the fir branches to make Yuletide wind chimes. It's all quite lovely, but Little Shoe sees no trace of this animals' Santa anywhere.

BUT SUDDENLY A BUNDLE OF FRESH CLOVER FALLS AT HIS FEET!

A year without a new Jan Brett holiday story is like a winter without a snowflake, and this year we're in luck with Brett's latest, The Animals' Santa (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2014).  Filled with her painstakingly detailed draftsmanship  and glorious colors set against the whitest of snowfalls, this latest Brett tale tells the old story of the little doubter who sets out to prove who or what Santa really is. With her trademark foreshadowing borders decorating each delightful page, this is yet another great story to join her many Christmas classics, Home for Christmas, The Wild Christmas Reindeer, Christmas Trolls, The Night Before Christmas, Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve? and The Twelve Days of Christmas, to cite some of Brett's many holiday gifts to children.