And Baby Makes Three..." Zombie In Love 2 + 1 by Kelly DiPucchio

MORTIMER AND MILDRED HAD A PROBLEM.
IT WASN'T A BIG PROBLEM.

IT WAS A LITTLE PROBLEM.

Zombies Mortimer and Mildred had fallen in love at first sight and now are living in newlywed bliss in their quaint vine-covered mausoleum near their friends in the graveyard.

But one twilight they find a surprise left on their doorstep--an old orange crate with a lively human baby inside, with a sign that says TAKE ME!

Being parents throws the undead couple for a loop. They name the baby Sunny, swaddle his bottom in some old mummy wrappings they have around the house, and set out on the rocky road of parenting.

But a baby is not exactly a good fit for creatures-of-the-night Mort and Millie.

Sonny is fussy at feeding time. He refuses a spoonful of bat pudding and actually spits out his pureed brains! He's not even green; he's a sickly color of pink. His teeth come in instead of falling out. And he never cries.

AND WORST OF ALL, HE WAS AWAKE ALL DAY AND SLEPT ALL NIGHT.

POOR MORTIMER AND MILDRED WERE DEAD TIRED.

In desperation, Mortimer and Mildred take Sonny to the pediatrician. Dr. Frank M. Stein, who pronounces Sonny in the pink of health.

That's good news, Mortimer and Mildred suppose, but it still doesn't give them a clue what to do to get some semi-eternal rest. They foresee endless weary days half awake, reading endless bedtime stories, playing pattycake and peek-a-BOO.

But at last there's a breakthrough!

SONNY FINALLY SLEPT THROUGH THE DAY!

Kelly DiPucchio's follow up to her best-selling Zombie in Love (see review here) takes her lovelorn hero and his smitten sweetheart into the trying days of parenthood. But with a few good day's sleep, Mortimer and Mildred stop falling apart (literally) and begin to enjoy the milestones in raising Sonny. When Sonny tries to climb out of his skull-bedecked crib and hits the floor with a crash and a wail, Mildred's first thought is to take a picture for the baby book.

"QUICK! GRAB THE CAMERA!

SONNY JUST TOOK HIS FIRST FALL!"

Illustrator Scott Campbell comes up with plenty of sight jokes in this second book, mostly executed in an appropriate palette of putrid greens. The Zombies' front door mat says R.I.P. and earthworms frolic in their graveyard lawn and house. Brains are everywhere, from baby pull toy to hobby horse head, and Mildred teaches patty-cake with Mortimer's two detached hands. In a wry double entendre Mildred tells Mortimer than Sonny has his nose (actually!), and with big gap-toothed grins (and one missing nose), all three pose together for a selfie, as Millie declares herself "the luckiest ghoul" ever.

One reviewer points out that DiPucchio and Campbell's books are perfect for both Halloween and Valentine's Day, and Publishers Weekly proclaims that for either occasion Zombie in Love 2 + 1 (Atheneum, 2015) is drop-dead funny and will "keep kids cackling."

Hirsute Heir? Mustache Baby by Bridget Heos

When  Billy is born, he parents get quite a surprise.

Baby Billy has an impressive mustache.

His parents are puzzled at what all this means.

"IT DEPENDS," THE NURSE SAYS.

"YOU'LL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE WHETHER IT'S A GOOD-GUY MUSTACHE OR A BAD-GUY MUSTACHE."

At first, as Billy and his mustache grow to toddlerhood, it looks like a good-guy mustache--a lawman's crisp little cookie duster, suitable for a sheriff who rounds up the bad guys!

But soon that mustache begins to sprout and grow and curl into a maleficent-looking mustachio--a bad-guy mustache for sure.  It's a disrespectful  desperado's soup-strainer of a mustache, and Billy's behavior goes down the tubes, too. He's a cat burglar (burgling the family kitty), a cereal-stealing felon who even robs toy trains and purloins a Tootsie getaway car, and finally Mom has to collar this malefactor and stick him in behind bars (in his crib).

But time in the slammer seems to do the trick, and Mom bails him out, explaining to Billy's appropriately annoyed big sister and brother...

"EVERYONE HAS A BAD-MUSTACHE DAY NOW AND THEN!"

And there's an unsuspected hairy resolution to this super-silly hirsute tale, in Bridget Heos' Mustache Baby (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2013), illustrated with super silliness by Joy Ang in delightful mixed media layouts. Ang's art extends the story ably, especially in depicting the unmentioned reactions of the hospital staff  and neighbors to Billy's lip fringe, and his harassed older siblings' reactions to Billy's terrible two capers.

Kirkus calls this one as a "...mix of Saturday-morning slapstick, dramatic comic-book angles and mustachioed babies. Occasional badness has never been so good."

Fangs A Lot, Sis! Vampire Baby by Kelly Bennett

"YOUCH! TOOTIE! NO BITE!"

When his adorable baby sister Tootie gets her first teeth, it's a big event. Not because they are charming little baby front teeth, but because her first teeth are her canines--FANGS! The pediatrician says it's "most unusual," but not unheard of, and mom and dad shrug and point out that Tootie will grow all her regular baby teeth in the next few months.

But Big Brother knows better. Tootie is a vampire baby! There are those two sharp little fangs, and then, just look at her hair. Tootie has a perfect widow's peak, just like Dracula. All her favorite baby foods are red like blood. And she doesn't sleep in the middle of the night. Wahhh!

And then--there's the biting!

"YOU WOULD THINK I COULD JUST KEEP AWAY FROM HER. BUT IT'S NOT THAT EASY!

TOOTIE STARTS OUT ADORABLE.... SHE WAITS UNTIL I'M IN FANG REACH AND THEN...

CHOMP!"

Mom and Dad just point out that all babies chew on everything while they're teething. But Big Brother decides that his parents just don't get Tootie's true nature. So on a pre-Halloween trip to the costume store, he slicks her hair back and dresses her in an adorable little Vampire cape--and hangs a hand-lettered sign on her stroller:

WANTED

GOOD HOME

FOR VAMPIRE BABY

The plan seems to be working. A jolly family--mother, father, boy--festively dressed in look-alike vampire costumes, spot the cute baby vampire in Aisle 13 and seem to be taking the bait.

The boy bends over Tootie's stroller and burbles baby talk at her:

"HELLO, CUTEY-WOOTIE! WANT TO GO HOMEY-WOMEY WITH US?"

But true to form, Tootie can't resist the boy's pinkish nose right in her face. She bites!

"AAARRGH! BAD BABY!"

Suddenly Big Brother's protective instincts are aroused.

WATCH OUT HOW YOU TALK TO MY BABY SISTER!" HE SHOUTS, SCOOPING UP TOOTIE.

Family solidarity wins out in Kelly Bennett's brand-new Vampire Baby (Candlewick, 2013), comically illustrated by the veteran Paul Meisel.  It's a simple little family story that meshes well with the pre-Halloween season for younger readers, especially those with baby siblings to deal with at home, and as School Library Journal points out, " Young listeners may enjoy repeating, "Youch, Tootie! No bite!"

Bedtime Blues: No Go Sleep! by Kate and Jules Feiffer

"Please go to sleep!" a mother croons over the crib.

"NO GO SLEEP!" says the baby.

A mussed and fussed tot takes a contrarian look at this bedtime business.

Instead of becoming all cuddly and dozy (as parents hope), the end of the day finds this baby weary but with his will still strong, his angry face as wrinkled as his footie pajamas, as he kicks his feet in rebellion  and repeats his mantra: "No Go Sleep!!!"

The parents remain calm and their words soothing as they call on the cosmos for backup.

". .  .  the stars said, "We are twinkling and sprinkling
sweet dreams down to you."

A passing car's beep calls for sleep, the trees whisper to him with soft rustles, his Teddy is ready to snooze, and the front door gets into the act, closing for the night.

Even the moon promises to stay up right outside his window and be Baby's very own night light. Baby has but one thing to say:

"NO!"

Baby is having none of this pathetic fallacy stuff. The dog may be snoring in his bed, but he's NOT having any of it. His face gets red,  his arms and legs thrash angrily. The spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak, however, as in spite of himself, his eyelids betray him and nature takes its course at last, in Kate Feiffer's No Go Sleep! (Paula Wiseman/Simon &; Schuster, 2012). Kate Feiffer's incisive but lyrical narration pits the cranky, reluctant sleeper against the soothing, patient parents, while her noted artist father Jules Feiffer's wavy line and watery blue-green palette evoke both baby's resistant mood and the on-coming twilight scene in which sleep has its way at last.

Other joint efforts for this father-daughter duo include My Side of the Car, Which Puppy? (Paula Wiseman Books), and Henry the Dog with No Tail (Paula Wiseman Books).

Eeny-Meeney: Ten Tiny Toes by Todd Tarpley

INTO THE WORLD
CAME TEN TINY TOES,

A HUNDRED TIMES SWEETER
THAN YOU COULD SUPPOSE.

Todd Tarpley's sweet and simple little story-in-rhyme, Ten Tiny Toes (Little, Brown, 2012) is in praise of the glory of babies, filled with the rush of affection almost anyone feels at the sight of those rosy pink little feet. Kisses and bubble baths, cuddles and nuzzles follow the initial sight of those little toes, and the love which surrounds the baby nurtures and leads the child to use those little feet to stand and walk and run, to explore and eventually venture out into the world, into a life that these loving parents hope will bring future little toes coming into the world.

SOMEDAY WHEN THOSE TEN
TINY TOES ARE ALL GROWN

HAPPILY RAISING
TEN TOES OF THEIR OWN,

THEY WILL THINK OF THOSE KISSES
THAT MADE THEM FEEL STRONG.

THEY'LL TAKE ALL THOSE KISSES,
AND PASS THEM ALONG.

Such sweet imagery and happily predictable rhymes could easily sink into greeting card smarmitude, but the notable illustrator Marc Brown's imaginative pastel paper collage and colored pencil illustrations manage to give this poem in praise of infant toes a certain easy humor and a light touch without excess sentimentality that makes this a delightful little book to share with the very young.

Yukkin' It Up! Laugh Out Loud Baby by Tony Johnston

THE FIRST TIME OUR BABY LAUGHED OUT LOUD

OUR FAMILY STOOD STILL TO LISTEN.

SWEET DAY!

THAT SMALL SPILL OF HAPPINESS

WENT RIPPLING THROUGH THE HOUSE--A DAZZLE, A JAZZLE, A SHINE.

Everything in the household stops while the folks are enchanted by that sound, from grandpas down to tots. A baby's first real laugh is such a pleasure that the family feels that everyone in neighborhood needs to hear it.

The area around is scoured, and soon an expectant crowd, picnic baskets fortified with provender, fills their tumbledown little house, all crowding around to hear that magical sound. Even great-great-grandma is there, her ears cocked.

There's just one problem. Baby's mirth seems to be shut down.

No amount of coo-chy cooing and even tickling evokes a smile. Perhaps intimidated by all the strangers' eyes on him, baby won't giggle.  All kinds of laughs from the grownups fail to set him off:

...SNICKERY NOSE LAUGHS
DOWN-TO-YOUR TOES LAUGHS...

Finally all their efforts fall flat. Baby smiles, but no laugh follows. Disappointed, the friends and family give up and figure they might as well enjoy their impromptu potluck get-together anyway. The crowd starts eating and blabbing away among themselves, the baby temporarily removed from the center of attention.

Will baby ever perform that wonderful laugh for everyone to hear?

In her just published latest, Laugh-Out-Loud Babym, (Paula Wiseman Books) (Simon & Schuster, 2012), author Tony Johnston's bouncy, rhyme-studded text and Caldecott artist Stephen Gammell's typically quirky illustrations keep little listeners laughing even when the baby isn't. And of course, it's not to worry, as giggles will out in this new tall tale from this dynamic storytelling duo.

The Right to Sing The Blues: Brand-New Baby Blues by Kathi Appelt

It's official.
It's the news!

With my brand-new baby brother
Came the brand-new baby blues!

Our gal has got the right to sing the blues! There's her new little brother, wearing her cute little newborn-sized sleeper, snoozing in her cute little bed. Mom and Dad, whose lives seemed to be perfect when all their thoughts were of her, seem totally besotted with this baby, even though he can't do anything cool with them like she can, just eat, sleep, and make P-E-E-U-W diapers.

"Am I blue? You'd be, too" she thinks as she makes her case. But there's just a hint of a possibility that things may be look up in, oh, or year or two, or maybe more. Then they'll fly kites and play ball together. She'll have someone to play hide and seek with and introduce to all the big kid mysteries:

"I can't wait to teach him to spit!"

Kathi Appelt, whose hilarious Bubba and Beau picture books, augmented by the just-right Texas touches of Arthur Howard, looked at life from the baby's point of view, flips the perspective in her Brand-New Baby Blues (Harper, 2011), making the most of her considerable (Newbery Honor-winning) literary skills to craft a funny rhyming text which sum up the sibling's dilemma.

Diaper Derby: Catch That Baby! by Nancy Coffelt

TIME TO GET DRESSED NOW, RUDY!

Them's fightin' words, Ma'am. At least if you're toddler Rudy, just out of his bath and sleek and slippery as a seal. Before Mom can slap a Pamper on that cute little patootie, Rudy is off and running, and the race is on.

Of course it's advantage, Rudy as he dashes through the house, under tables, over tables, behind furniture, eluding everyone in the family, hustle, bustle scoot--Dad, siblings, grandparents, even an perky pup who joins in the pursuit after him. Rudy even taunts his pursuers with gleeful giggles and his own liberty battle cry:

NUDIE RUDY!

Everybody gets the giggles as Rudy continues to give them the slip. Where did that baby go? Buddy the dog is pressed into service as their own search-and-rescue hound.

WAIT! HAS BUDDY GOTTEN TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS MYSTERY?

Buddy points the way to Rudy's room. Is the diaper derby in the home stretch at last?

It's a familiar family scenario, that fleeing just-bathed baby, but Rudy gets the last and best laugh as he emerges from his room, having attired himself in a Rudy-mental way--his shirt on his legs, socks on his hands, and his pants on his head, as he victoriously crows...

"CUTIE RUDY!"

In Nancy Coffelt's latest runaway romp, Catch That Baby!, (Simon & Schuster, 2011) her brief text is charmingly augmented by the illustrations of artist Scott Nash, who coyly figleafs the runaway nude modestly while letting this "nekkid baby" have his fun run with his adoring family. This one belongs right up there with the rubber duckie as a bathtime classic.

We Shall Overcome: The Bare-Footed, Bad-Tempered Baby Brigade by Deborah Deison

"WE CAN'T WALK YET, BUT WE'RE MARCHING IN PROTEST,"
WE HAVE PLENTY TO SAY AND IT'S TIME THAT YOU HEARD IT.
TAKE NOTES, YOU'LL NEED THEM. WE'll TRY TO BE CLEAR.

WE WON'T WASH OUR FACES; WE WON'T EAT OUR MASHED PEAS!
WE WON'T WEAR FRILLY CLOTHES THAT GREAT-GRANDMA MADE!
WE'RE A BARE-FOOTED, BAD-TEMPERED BABY BRIGADE!"

It's hard to stage a protest march when some of your demonstrators are still crawling, but the baby brigade means business, and bearing hand-lettered signs that shout "NO!" and "GOO-GOO GA-GA!" they crawl to town hall and give voice to all the complaints babies have always made non-verbally--too many baths, squishy baby food that's green and purple, early bedtimes, itchy clothes, and all:

"IF YOU'RE READY, WE'RE READY. LET'S SET SOME THINGS STRAIGHT.

WE WON'T GET OUR HAIR CUT.
WE WON'T WEAR OUR SUN CAPS.
WE WON'T PLAY WITH SMART TOYS THAT SKIP US A GRADE.
WE WON'T TAKE OUR NAPS.

WE'RE THE BARE-FOOTED, BAD-TEMPERED BABY BRIGADE."

It's a mini-manifesto from the cutest bunch of little protestors you'll ever see, in Deborah Dieson's The Barefooted, Bad-Tempered, Baby Brigade (Tricycle Books, 2011), illustrated with comic sweetness by Tracy Dockray. The wee whiners crawl, toddle, and push each other in strollers as they press their case with their well-meaning parents, ending with a simple but moving plea.

WE KEEP YOU UP NIGHTS AND WRECK PLANS THAT YOU'VE MADE.
WE'RE THE BARE-FOOTED, BAD-TEMPERED BABY BRIGADE.

BUT NOW THAT WE'RE DONE AND OUR POINT HAS BEEN MADE,
WOULD YOU HOLD US AND SNUGGLE US,
AND SING US A SONG?

WE KNOW WE'RE A BAD-TEMPERED BABY BRIGADE,
BUT WE WON'T BE BAD-TEMPERED,
OR BABIES FOR LONG!"

Older kids will giggle at the baby protests against naptimes and strained peas while still feeling a twinge of sympathy for similar rules for older kids, while parents, especially those whose first little ones have already grown big, will empathize with the fact that babies won't always be babies. As the Booklist reviewer puts it, "The scenarios of the rebels in action are as much fun as the climax, when they get the snuggle they want. A great early read-aloud, with a thumping, rhythmic text that kids will want to hear many times over."

Say What? Baby Says "Moo" by Jo Ann Walker

BABY TAKES A RIDE THROUGH THE DIZZY BUSY CITY.
WAVES AT A YELLOW BIRD, SINGING PRETTY.

"BABY, WHAT DO BIRDS SAY?
BABY SAYS, "MOO!"

Diligent parents, obviously English majors, make a day of it, introducing Baby to a number of new experiences and especially new words. At the grocery store friendly customers wave at Baby and coo "Hel-lo!" Birds tweet, a cat obligingly says "Me-ow!" Eagerly, the parents prompt Baby to repeat the proper sounds. Baby has one answer, and it's not the right one. Their language lesson seems to be going nowhere! When a horse responds appropriately to his wave right on cue, Baby comes right back with the wrong answer again: "Moo!"

"HORSES SAY MOO? I HAVE TO SAY,
EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT A HORSE SAYS 'NEIGH!'"

Frazzled, the frustrated parents repeat all the right answers--people say "hello," dogs say "Ruff!," cats say "meow!"--and Baby just smiles. "Moo!" is her answer, and she's sticking to it!

At last the thwarted Mom and Dad head the car for home. But what is that critter they see in the field right beside the road? At last it's their chance for this kid to get at least one answer right.

A COW, A COW, WITH SPOTS ON ITS BACK!

WHAT DOES BABY SAY? NOT ONE PEEP.
TUCKERED OUT, BABY IS FAST ASLEEP.

Joann Walker's just published, Baby Says "Moo!" (Hyperion, 2011) is an early education cliffhanger. Will Baby wake just in time to say her line at the right time? With bouncy, Dr. Seuss-like rhyming couplets, Walker's little language lesson will give knowing preschoolers a chuckle as Baby fluffs her lines over and over, almost right down to the final word of this charming little book, and they will be all too happy to chime in on that word as Baby arouses at last to make her parents very happy. David Walker's illustrations, done up in a retro pastel commercial style, are conventionally cute, but don't really do justice to the tongue-in-cheek dramatic tension and potential irony of this well-crafted little language lesson.

Waah, Waah, Waah!: The Babies on the Bus by Karen Katz

THE BABIES ON THE BUS SING "LA, LA, LA,
LA, LA, LA,

LA, LA, LA."

THE BABIES ON THE BUS SING "LA, LA, LA!"

ALL THROUGH THE TOWN.

These babies are really toddlers, a variety of different round-face tots in bright school clothes, all on their way to nursery school on their very own big yellow bus. This bus has the usual equipment--wheels that go round and round, doors that open and close, wipers that go swish, and a horn that merrily toot-toot-toots as their baby-faced driver toodles them through town. These toddler scholars sing along as they bump, bump, bumpety bounce along, and even lapse into a bit of waah, waah, waah-ing as the ride goes on and they get sleepy.

But with a reassuring "Shush, Shush, Shush" from their driver, the babies on the bus settle down for some quick ZZZZs, and before you know it, the yellow bus bounces up to daycare door, and with a final cheery "Everyone up, Everyone up, Everyone up," their driver hands them off to their smiling, waving teachers, and it's time for the school day to begin.

"BYE, BYE, BYE,

BYE, BYE, BYE,

BYE, BYE, BYE."

And with a last "Bye-bye, Bus!" the toddlers line up and toddle inside.

Karen Katz' happy jellybean colors and signature PlaySkool-style kids smooth and sooth the transition to mounting that big bus for a day away at preschool in her newest, The Babies on the Bus (Henry Holt, 2011) skillfully retools the old bus to suit the toddler crowd with some new rhymes, and the different expressions on the little preschoolers' faces on the bus give little ones plenty to look at as they sing along with the familiar tune. School Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews both give this one a "thumbkins up!"

A Little Stranger: There's Going to Be a Baby by John Burningham

"THERE'S GOING TO BE A BABY."

"WHEN IS THE BABY GOING TO COME?"

"THE BABY WILL ARRIVE WHEN IT'S READY IN THE FALL, WHEN THE LEAVES ARE TURNING BROWN AND FALLING."

It is that poignant, momentous, life-changing moment when a parent tells the firstborn that a new baby is going to come into the family. The young child has many questions, many conflicting thoughts, as, of course, do the prospective parents as well. What will the baby's name be? What will be baby do? Will there be messes and problems? Will the baby play with me? What will the baby do when he or she is grown up? Do we really NEED a baby?

In a marriage made in picture-book heaven, veteran author John Burningham joins his wife, Helen Oxenbury, long a noted illustrator, in their beautiful collaboration, There's Going to Be a Baby (Candlewick Press, 2010) to recreate the crucial period in which the as yet unborn child gradually becomes part of the family. We see mother and firstborn going about their daily lives, through the end of winter, the spring, and a long summer, as the baby slowly becomes more and more real to the child.

"I HOPE IT'S A BOY SO WE CAN PLAY BOY GAMES TOGETHER, AND I THINK HE SHOULD BE CALLED PETER--OR SPIDER-MAN."

In Oxenbury's evocative double-page panelled spreads, the child imagines the baby, clad in a pastel onesie and boots, as he flips pancakes which stick to the ceiling and fall on his head, helping in the garden as mom plants spring flowers, and working in a zoo, feeding a bottle of milk to a baby monkey--and possibly being eaten by a tiger.

Doubts and fears also surface.

"MOM, CAN'T YOU TELL THE BABY TO GO AWAY? WE DON'T REALLY NEED A BABY, DO WE?"

And when at last we see the child on the bus with his grandfather and walking into the hospital to meet the new baby, we know that the family is going to open up to enfold both the newcomer and the firstborn in his new role as big brother.

"GRANDAD... THE BABY WILL BE OUR BABY."

There's Going to Be a Baby combines picturesque, slightly old-fashioned illustrations of mother and child as the mom's tummy increases and the child's understanding of the meaning of a new sibling in his family also grows. Burningham and Oxenbury create a simple but realistic account of this process in a way that will facilitate authentic discussions between parent and child among their readers. This one is sure to become a classic must-have for expanding families.

Autocratic Management: The Boss Baby by Marla Frazee

FROM THE MOMENT THAT THE BABY ARRIVED...

IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT HE WAS THE BOSS.

When this baby shows up, dressed in a natty black drop-seat onesie with spiffy white shirt and tie, toting a formidable briefcase, these parents know that their CEO has taken charge of management. He sets up his office, his "desk" the circular tray of his walker, and demands 24/7 hustle from the "staff," his increasingly pooped parents.

HE CONDUCTED MEETINGS.

LOTS AND LOTS OF MEETINGS.

MANY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.

This boss demands his executive perquisites--drinks to order summoned around the clock, his own spa for relaxation, his private jet, and a personal gym for his workouts. In true administrative style, his interoffice communications are virtually unintelligible. The Boss is happy, but worker morale is definitely at a statistical low.

THEN, ONE DAY ALL ACTIVITY GROUND TO A HALT. THE BOSS SURVEYED HIS SURROUNDINGS, EYEBALLED HIS WORKERS, AND FROWNED.

HE CALLED A MEETING. THE STAFF DID NOT RESPOND.

It looks like employee insubordination. The parental workers are apparently on a sit-down strike. In fact, they're slumped in an exhausted slumber on the couch.

When all else fails, The Boss comes to an executive decision. The usual communication media are obviously ineffective. He tries a new, more employee-sensitive management style:

MA-MA? DA-DA?

Weary new parents and even older brothers and sisters will instantly recognize the imperious management style adopted by all newborns in Caldecott Award-winning author/illustrator Marla Frazee's just published The Boss Baby (Beach Lane Books, 2010). The perfect book for new parents or parent-to-be, anyone who's ever spent time around a new baby will recognize this scenario, and Frazee's retro-stylized comic illustrations of the boss baby, his "desk" adorned with his intercom (baby monitor) and beverages (bottles), his spa a bubbly baby bathtub, and his executive jet an airplane-shaped baby swing seat are a real hoot. Lots of laughs here for all the family.

Best Buddies: Tarra and Bella: The Elephant and Dog Who Became Best Friends by Carol Buckley

Meet Tarra the elephant and Bella the dog who won her heart.

Whatever attracted the elephant and dog to each other remains a mystery, but one thing is sure--Tarra and Bella are truly forever friends.

An ex-rollerskating circus elephant and a shaggy mutt seem like an odd couple, but it was a case of love at first sight for these two.

Bella had been retired from show business to become the first resident of Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, a private park which provides meadows and woodlands for elephants emeritus. As other elephants were added to the herd, Bella seemed to take on the welcome wagon role, showing the newbies around barns, pastures, watering holes, and trails, but as the others paired off with each other for company, Tarra remained without a preferred companion.

That is, until one morning when Tarra awoke to find that she had a bed buddy--a shaggy gold and white dog sleeping right next to her. Unexpectedly, she touched the dog gently with her trunk and chirped a welcome, and an unlikely friendship was born. From that day the elephant and the dog, whom the staff named Bella, did everything together: they ate and walked and swam and even played hide and seek in the grass together.

Tarra even came to her friend's rescue one morning when she found Bella lying hurt in a shallow ditch surrounded by tall grass. The big elephant stood watch until the sanctuary staff noticed her anxiety and came to take Bella for medical assistance. Bella's big buddy remained by that spot all day, but when the caretakers did not bring her friend back, Tarra intuitively headed for the barn where Bella was resting after treatment. She returned there to visit her partner daily until at last the dog was well enough to be allowed out and around to resume their daily routines again.

Carol Buckley's Tarra & Bella: The Elephant and Dog Who Became Best Friends (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2009) is filled with appealing color photos of this unlikely pair of forever friends. Other books which feature unusual bondings between intelligent animals include Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship, the story of the unlikely bond between an orphaned baby hippo and a 130-year-old giant tortoise and its sequels, (see my earlier posted review here) and Koko's Kitten (Reading Rainbow Book), the equally amazing story of the sign-language-trained gorilla and the homeless striped kitten who became her best friend.