Too Much of A Good Thing? The Bruce Swap by Ryan T. Higgins

There was a forest in front of the little cabin Bruce the curmudgeonly bear shared with three goslings and four mice.

Sure, it's the North Woods, so there are some evergreens around the lake, but Bruce's yard was mostly a forest of signs beginning with the word NO--NO TALKING, NO SWIMMING, NO FISHING, NO CAMPING, NO PICNICKING, NO TRESPASSING...! Bruce was no fun. The mice longed for adventures. The geese just wanted--sandwiches!

ONE MORNING THERE WAS A LETTER IN THE MAILBOX AT 13 GO AWAY LANE!

It was a letter from Bruce's fun-loving cousin Kevin, saying he's coming for a fun-filled vacation. But nobody knew that--because one of the goslings ate the letter. So on the day of fun-loving Kevin's arrival, nobody knew they were about to have guests! Bruce went fishing, leaving a note, but one of the goslings ate that, so nobody knew that either.

So when fun-loving Kevin arrived with outdoor equipment and a bag of sandwiches, the mice and geese thought he was Bruce. But not the party-pooping Bruce they knew. This was a different Bruce.

"ALL OUR WISHES HAVE COME TRUE!" SAID THISTLE.

"WAIT! THIS MUST BE BRUCE'S DOPPELGANGER!" SAID RUPERT.

"DINGLE POOPER?" ASKED NIBB.

But no matter! This version of Bruce was nothing but fun. He gave them all the candy they could eat and then inspired a candy battle. He pulled out a pogo stick and hopped all over the cabin. He ordered endless pizzas. Then he flooded the cabin to make an indoor swimming pool. His rowdy buddies showed up and finished wrecking the cabin, so the party moved outside. Dingle Pooper Bruce taped Rupert to a kite and sent him up for his first flight. The cabin and yard were a dreadful MESS! Since MESS is not fun, fun-loving Kevin and his chums piled into their van and left the premises.

SOME OF THE FUN WAS.... QUESTIONABLE.

"NO MORE FUN! NO, NO, NO! PLEASE!" THE GOSLINGS PLEADED.

THEY ALL WISHED FOR REGULAR BRUCE TO COME BACK!

There's such a thing as too much fun for the mice and goslings, who were actually glad to see the real party-pooper Bruce putt-putting back up the road on his motor skooter, in Ryan T. Higgins' latest in his Mother Bruce series, The Bruce Swap (Disney Press, 2021). (But at least there's plenty of pizza left over!)

Author-illustrator Higgins combines hilarious comic illustrations, oddball family affection, and one of children's literature's greatest grumpy bears in his Mother Bruce series, which began with Mother Bruce (Mother Bruce, Book 1) (Mother Bruce Series, 1)

"A gentle, silly picture book about balancing fun and responsibility," says Kirkus Reviews

Santa Baby? A Mustache Baby Christmas by Bridget Heos

Christmas is just around the corner, and Santa's recruiting extra elves.

You know that Baby Billy was born with a mustache. And that Baby Javier was born with a beard. But did you know that on Christmas Eve, Javier's beard...

turned white?

That made him Santa's #1 helper--SANTA BABY!

Santa Baby gets busy collecting all the tiny tots' wish lists for Christmas Eve, noting that not all little ones are nice and some are definitely headed for the NAUGHTY list. He also gallantly volunteers to taste all the tasty treats.

Javier is one busy bearded boy. But soon there's a production problem:

Santa Baby hadn't had time to make the toys!

Just then Baby Billy came 'stacche-ing through the snow. In a twinkling he offers to be an elf in Santa Baby's workshop.

The two hirsute Santa's helpers soon construct a trove of gifts for their client tots. But then Mustache Baby suffers a bad case of selfishness! He claims the toys for himself! As he corrals all the toys, something strange happens. His mustache goes into hyper-drive and turns into...

A BAD GUY MUSTACHE!

But when Santa Baby gets angry, he grows a bodacious beard, hitches up his dachshund team to the sleigh and leaves his renegade elf behind in a snow drift. Naughty bad guy Billy kayos the lead dachshund with a chunky snowball and brings down Santa Baby's sleigh, and Santa Baby is forced to steer his sleigh to a crash landing.

Will Christmas Eve be a bearded bust? Will Santa's sleigh be grounded and Santa Baby forced to forego his worldwide Yuletide trip?

Never fear, all ye tots, toddlers, and expectant kids. Yearly, newly, faithfully truly, somehow Santa Claus always comes, as in Bridget Heos' jolly new Yuletide treat, A Mustache Baby Christmas (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Clarion, 2019).

Okay, it's still some time until Santa's big night, but it's never too soon to stock up on stocking-stuffer stories filled with holiday cheer, and together author Bridget Heos and her trusty helper, artist Joy Ang, have a certain top-seller for that coming Season to Be Jolly. There's always a place for some silly Santa's helper stories to brighten winter solstice time, and worried kids will cheer and be cheered when Santa Grownup flies in just in time to take care of Christmas Eve duties right on schedule. Artist Joy Ang's cheery illustrations make sure all is merry and bright, and all's well that ends well with a merry message from Santa Grownup and Santa Baby...

MERRY MUSTACHE TO ALL... AND TO ALL A BEARD WHITE!

Bridget Heos' and Joy Ang's other books in this joyfully silly series are Mustache Baby (board book), Mustache Baby Meets His Match, and her recent buccaneer baby tale, Arrr, Mustache Baby!

Hard Lessons! Samantha Hansen Has Rocks In Her Head by Nancy Viau

"Aaargh! Samantha Hansen! Get your stupid rocks out of here. I want them gone!"

It's just Jen, my big sister. Jen likes to boss people around. So what if I'm ten years old? I don't need a boss who's fifteen. I rush to the bathroom to make sure Jen didn't touch my rocks.

"Rocks can't be stupid!" I yell back to Jen. "They don't have brains!" I peek inside the egg carton. They were touched, all right.

"Sam!" Mom calls from down the hall. "Stop yelling!" Jen does her eye-roll thing--and grins. My sister loves when I get in trouble.

I know my mouth has a mind of its own. I can't help it.

Sam admits that she has rocks on her head most of the time. She loves their different textures and colors, she loves that some can even be fluorescent under special lights, and she loves being the expert on rocks in her class. Her special rock assortment is carefully nestled in its egg carton and she's hoping her teacher will give her an A+ on her science project. She's even planned a production on fluorescent minerals with special lights that show off their glow-in-the-dark properties for her entry in the grade-level talent show. But her temper sometimes gets ahead of her.

And then Mom has a big announcement--a mini-vacation to the Grand Canyon.

"It would be good for you and me and Jen to get away. Just us girls," Mom says. "But you have to learn to put a lid on that temper of yours."

The Grand Canyon is like a dream come true for a rock scientist like me. I'm going to need a very tight lid. And quite possibly a different sister.

It's a rocky week for Sam, trying hard to control her angry words, but she and Jen pull off a surprise early birthday party that softens Mom's mood, and at last they are there, actually hiking with backpacks together down Bright Angel Trail!

The canyon is huge! The rock layers sit on top of each other like Mom's layered cake, but here each layer is a different kind of rock The colors bounce off my eyeballs. Maybe I'll find a rare mammoth fossil named for me.

Sam's petrological knowledge impresses their guide Chad, and she sparkles like a mica specimen when he asks her to be his assistant. But that night in their camp, Sam is awakened by her mom. Jen is missing, and Mom needs help finding her sister in the dark at the foot of the canyon, and in the course of that stormy night Sam uncovers a lot about her Mom and how her Dad died suddenly, and even how much she cares about her sister.

In Nancy Viau's Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head (Schiffer Publishing, 2019), Sam learns a lot about the science of geology, but, to her surprise, something about human psychology, too--that feelings are like rocks--there's often a lot about them buried below the surface. There's a lot to learn out there, and the likable Samantha Larsen is about to learn how to dig it all. Viau's page-turning middle-reader novel is what Beverly Cleary called "funny-sad," a chunk of real family life, with its everyday conflicts and its victories, and, as rock lovers might put it, it's a really gneiss summer read! And readers should keep their eyes out on the trail for Nancy Viau's Samantha sequel, Something Is Bugging Samantha Hansen, forthcoming August 28, 2019.

Not Your Usual Day at the Beach: Roxie and the Hooligans at Buzzard's Roost by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Since Roxie's daring adventure foiled the bank robbers with the help of her town's notorious Hooligans, Roxie has hoped for a truce with that scruffy, ragtag gang of misfits.

But Roxie underestimates the Hooligans. Even when her Uncle Dangerfoot takes her and her bespectacled friend Norman along to his beach house, hoping to work on his hush-hush invention with his friend Lord Thistlebottom far from prying eyes and the press, they find a way to stowaway.

It was almost five hours later, and evening when they reached a large old house that sat back a bit from the ocean. Roxie and Norman were very stiff.

Uncle Dangerfoot reached for the latch on the trailer and opened the door. "What in thunder...?" he bellowed.

Roxie stared as Helvetia Hagus, Simon Surly, Freddy Filch, and Smoky Jo came tumbling out.

It seems as if Roxie cannot escape the Hooligans. Uncle Dangerfoot inexplicably accepts their story that their parents will not come to fetch them, and although the housekeeper and cook, Mrs. Tumbledry, is kindly, the other tenant, the Widow Bittersweet, veiled and gowned in heavy brown mourning garb, is scary weird. Rosie and Norman resolve to make the best of the uninvited guests, and Uncle Dangerfoot and Lord Thistlebottom seem totally absorbed in their secret invention... until the larcenous Helvetia, always on the lookout for a source of lucre, manages to swipe it.

The kids discover that the covert contraption is a rocket-powered jet pack, and Helvetia seizes the opportunity to try it out. Apparently the device is not quite ready for prime time, but Helvetia survives soaring above the beach, followed by a dive into the sand. The cat is out of the bag, and Uncle Dangerfoot is forced to explain the real purpose of his hideaway. He and Thistlebottom conceal their device in the Widow's baby's crib, where the petite Smoky Joe has elected to sleep, and, swathed in a baby blanket, she winds up being mistaken for the jet pack and kidnapped by the nefarious villain, Alfred Applejack.

Can Rosie and the remaining Hooligans combine forces to save Smokie Jo, or will she have to rescue them, in Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's second rip-roaring, harem scarem comic adventure, Roxie and the Hooligans at Buzzard's Roost (Atheneum Books, 2018).  In this series, Naylor's delightful ability to combine colorful and perilous adventures with picaresque humor is reminiscent of John Bellairs in his quaint and comic Gothic series which include The House with a Clock in Its Walls (Lewis Barnavelt) and his The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt (Johnny Dixon). Naylor, Newbery Award winner for Shiloh (The Shiloh Quartet), never fails to delight and enthrall readers, and this easy reading adventure novel is just right for summer nights.

Cruise or Bust! Lions and Liars by Kate Beasley

Frederick Frederickson's social status is about as low as it can go. According to his classmate Joel, kids at the top are lions, and at the very bottom of the social ladder, there are the fleas on a meerkat's butt. And that's what Frederick figures he is.

Life at the bottom of the fifth grade hierarchy is no fun, but Frederick at least has the respite of the up-coming family cruise, with its chocolate fountains and gratis strawberry daiquiris to look forward to. But then, when Hurricane Hernando makes a turn southward,the cruise is canceled, and to add insult to injury, Frederick is forced to attend Joel's birthday party, where a cruel but well-aimed dodge ball transforms his nose into a bloody scarlet squash. Fed up, Frederick runs down to the river dock and jumps into Joel's dad's boat, which, it appears, is not securely tied up.

The hapless Frederick loses the paddle, tosses the anchor out without noticing it wasn't tied to the rope, and clumsily lets the motor fall off to boot. Floating rapidly downriver, Frederick is followed only by a rather large and very interested alligator who makes swimming to shore a bad idea.

After a chilly wet night trying to sleep in the boat, Frederick finds himself beached on a sandy shore. He's still wearing his bloody shirt and he hasn't eaten in at least twenty hours But his nose, still sore and bulbous, is apparently still working.

Frederick was alone at the edge of a river. He smelled pancakes and coffee and then heard a man's angry voice crackle through a loudspeaker: "Move it, maggots! Pick up your name tag and report to the welcome meeting ASAP!"

Frederick's legs had cramped, he had a crick in his neck, and he had pulled something in his shoulder. But none of that mattered, because he smelled pancakes!

He limps toward the scent of food, where kind volunteer Miss Betty hands him a sausage wrapped in the world's best pancake. Restored, Frederick picks up the last nametag left on the Welcome Table, bearing the name DASHIELL BLACKWOOD. Portentously, he sees that his new alter ego, Dashiell, has been assigned to Group 13. Miss Betty beams at him, still surrounded in the mesmerizing aura of pancakes.

"Welcome to Camp Omigoshee," she gushed. "Where boys are transformed!"

If anybody ever yearned for a transformation, it's Frederick, and he accepts the identity of no-show Dashiell, decides to go along with the camp thing, and is shown to join his bunkmates, a motley group with odd nicknames--The Professor, Nosebleed, Specs, and Ant Bite--all for good reason, as he soon finds out. Frederick scarcely has time to consider their strange names when the kid in line in front of him turns around to look at his nametag.

His plate toppled. He looked up at Frederick again.

"You're Dash?" the boy asked in a tone of wonder. A hush fell among the boys closest to Frederick.

Whoever the absent Dashiell Blackwood is, he is clearly a lion in the middle-school pecking order, and Frederick decides to go with his deception, at least until after breakfast and until he can find a phone to call home. Not knowing what else to do, he tries to live up to the expectations of the other campers. Having a mega-cool rep seems to work, even when Frederick almost fails at rope climbing. His gung-ho counselor Benjamin assures him that "he's still in the fear stage of transformation," and suddenly it dawns on Frederick that this is no ordinary camp. It's a disciplinary camp where there are some real bad boys, and he's stuck portraying the persona of the baddest Bad Dude of them all, Dashiell Blackwood, a legend in his own time. Frederick's only hope is to get to a land phone and call home for a rescue, and his bunkmates loyally agree to join him in what they think is a candy-raiding midnight break-in of the camp office.

As if assuming an unwonted personality isn't anxiety-provoking enough, Hurricane Hernando takes a turn toward Camp Omigoshee, and the camp has to be evacuated. Frederick is left stranded when he goes back for little Ant Bite in the flooding mess hall, while outside a real lion loose from the Jacksonville Zoo is roaming the woods. During the night the storm surge forces them out and ironically into the same boat that brought Frederick there in the first place.

It looks like fate has taken a hand in his transformation after all, in Kate Beasley's poignant and hilarious Lions and Liars (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018). With some of the secrets of real friendship learned and a consolation cruise complete with a chocolate fountain for Group 13, not to mention a cameo pirate appearance for the real Dashiell Blackwood, Frederick Frederickson finally realizes that he has no fear of the social lions in his future.

Caldecott artist Dan Santat's full-page black and white illustrations are inspired, bringing Camp Omigoshee to comic life, and the story is both empathetic and terrifically funny. Says the The Wall Street Journal's reviewer, "Ms. Beasley does something admirable with her food-chain metaphor. A bit like Chekhov's gun, the metaphorical lion from the first act turns into a real one, adding a moment of unexpected bite. Otherwise tender at heart and laugh-out-loud entertaining, the tale of Frederick's misadventures... will charm readers ages 8-12." Kirkus Reviews adds succinctly, "A fun coming-of-age romp!"

Getting In The Game! Grow Up, David! by David Shannon

"DAVID!!"

When their bathroom is littered with toothbrushes and oozing toothpaste tubes, an unreeling roll of toilet paper, and a toy airplane in the potty, there's no doubt which brother is the perpetrator.

David crawls under the table and ties his big brother's shoelaces together. He eats all the cute mini chocolate bars from his  brother's trick-or-treat pumpkin.

There's a recurring theme in his big brother's refrain:

"NO, DAVID!"

And there's good reason for that. David is a double-dyed pesky little brother. He wakes his brother up early on a Saturday morning when he trying to catch some extra Zs. He grabs the football and runs through the big boy's game like a little buzz saw on the loose. He won't stay out of his older brother's forbidden tree house hangout and spirits away his brother's photo of a special girl in his class. He provokes his brother into righteous retribution, when he trips David on purpose and with a wicked big-brother snicker wishes David a "good trip!" But David always claims his brother "started it!"

What can a big brother say, but...

"GROW UP, DAVID!"

And in his latest title, author-illustrator David Shannon's Grow Up, David! (David Books) (Blue Sky Press, 2018), author Shannon gives a hint as to the reason for all these pesty shenanigans: David is desperate for some attention. And David is overjoyed when he is allowed in the big boys' game and actually manages to makes quite a move.

"GOOD CATCH, DAVID!"

Shannon's narrative is simple but telling, while his signature illustrations portray the comic interplay between the siblings. While it's easy to see why David's big brother hopes he'll outgrow his pesky little-brother behavior, David's legions of fans will say, "No, David! Don't ever grow up!" David Shannon's ebullient younger brother is always good for a laugh-filled tale, and his many comic escapades have engendered a generation of giggles from youngsters who have taken glee in his misdeeds. But there's a certain sweetness in David's little-boy mischief that is always lovable, in its own way, showing young readers the way, the why, and the wherefore, of good behavior.

Other books in this series are the Shannon's first book, No, David! which won a Caldecott Honor Award for his inimitable illustrations, and sequels David Goes To School, David Gets In Trouble, Oh, David! A Diaper David Book, Oops! (A Diaper David Book) and and It's Christmas, David! (See reviews here.)

A Turn For the Better? The Bad Seed by John Jory

I wasn't always bad. I had a good family. We were close.

But then the petals dropped.

It's kind of blurry.... I remember a bag... and then a giant with the bag of sunflower seeds... a baseball game...

I thought I was a goner!

A childhood trauma can turn a good seed into a bad seed. Almost being eaten is a life-changing event, and since this sunflower seed landed with a bunch of spit-out shells of his fellow seeds under the bleachers, he's had a chip on his shoulder (well, if he had a shoulder that's where it would be).

He breaks into line every time. He's always late for anything and everything. His jokes drag on endlessly with no punch lines. He never listens at school. He has no friends. He never washes his hands, and flies swarm behind him wherever he goes. He's definitely got a bad rep.

"I'm a Ba-a-a-d Seed!"

Bad Seed definitely has a bad self-image. But once a bad seed doesn't mean he's always doomed to be a bad seed. One day he wakes up and discovers that how he grows up is mainly up to him.

It's hard. But I'm trying.

Maybe I'm not such a Bad Seed after all.

It looks like everything coming up roses, er, sunflowers, for this formerly Bad Seed, in Jory John's humorous new hit, The Bad Seed (Harper, 2017), whose self-improvement program has him well on the way to fitting in with all the other little corn kernels, peanuts, and pistachios. Artist Pete Oswald gives Bad Seed just the right grouchy glower to carry off his unreformed persona, with waves of unwashed stink behind him to add to the giggles, meanwhile giving readers a hint of what it means to see yourself as others see you. “This is a story that opens up dialogue about our reactions to life experiences, the consequences of our choices, and the chance to make a change for the better,” says School Library Journal in its starred review.

Author Jory John has plenty more hilarious stories of bad guys gone good, including Quit Calling Me a Monster! I Will Chomp You! and All My Friends Are Dead. (Read reviews here.)

Misbehaving! Dragon Was Terrible by Kelly Dipucchio

NATURALLY, DRAGONS HAVE A BIT OF TERRIBLE IN THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE DRAGONS.

BUT THIS DRAGON HERE? TERRIBLE!

Dragons are supposed to keep their smoky mischief beyond the pale, properly out in countryside caves, curating their hoards and blasting knights on chargers seeking adventure and fame.

But this one? He's just a home-town jerk!

HE SCRIBBLED IN BOOKS.

HE TOOK CANDY FROM BABY UNICORNS.

HE SPIT ON CUPCAKES!

(WHO DOES THAT?)

The king advertises for brave knights to rid the walled city of this threat to civil deportment, but the run-of-the-mill heroes all fail. Dragon continues in his deplorable behavior.

HE BURPED IN CHURCH.

But a brave young lad in a feathered cap steps up to the challenge. He sets up an easel and sketches out the beginnings of a story. He lays a trail of marshmallows to lead Dragon to a shady tree where the lad settles himself, reading a storybook aloud. Dragon feigns disinterest, but circles around and stealthily climbs the tree to listen. Just as the story gets really interesting....

SNAP! CRASH! DRAGON LANDED WITH A THUD ON THE GROUND.

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR HOW THE STORY ENDS?" THE BOY ASKED.

DRAGON SMILED.

It seems even impudent dragons delight in a good story, especially one with a hero dragon, in Kelly DiPucchio's latest, Dragon Was Terrible (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016),  With the help of noted artist Greg Pizzoli's comic cartoon characters, kids will laugh at this rude dragon, a perfectly awful spoiled preschooler type, who nevertheless falls for a good storyline, turning the page on beastly behavior for his inner dragon. "This is one terribly good dragon tale that will leave readers laughing," says Kirkus in their starred review.

Misbehaving! Dragon Was Terrible by Kelly Dipucchio

NATURALLY, DRAGONS HAVE A BIT OF TERRIBLE IN THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE DRAGONS.

BUT THIS DRAGON HERE? TERRIBLE!

Dragons are supposed to keep their smoky mischief beyond the pale, properly out in countryside caves, curating their hoards and blasting knights on chargers seeking adventure and fame.

But this one? He's just a home-town jerk!

HE SCRIBBLED IN BOOKS.

HE TOOK CANDY FROM BABY UNICORNS.

HE SPIT ON CUPCAKES!

(WHO DOES THAT?)

The king advertises for brave knights to rid the walled city of this threat to civil deportment, but the run-of-the-mill heroes all fail. Dragon continues in his deplorable behavior.

HE BURPED IN CHURCH.

But a brave young lad in a feathered cap steps up to the challenge. He sets up an easel and sketches out the beginnings of a story. He lays a trail of marshmallows to lead Dragon to a shady tree where the lad settles himself, reading a storybook aloud. Dragon feigns disinterest, but circles around and stealthily climbs the tree to listen. Just as the story gets really interesting....

SNAP! CRASH! DRAGON LANDED WITH A THUD ON THE GROUND.

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR HOW THE STORY ENDS?" THE BOY ASKED.

DRAGON SMILED.

It seems even impudent dragons delight in a good story, especially one with a hero dragon, in Kelly DiPucchio's latest, Dragon Was Terrible (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016),  With the help of noted artist Greg Pizzoli's comic cartoon characters, kids will laugh at this rude dragon, a perfectly awful spoiled preschooler type, who nevertheless falls for a good storyline, turning the page on beastly behavior for his inner dragon. "This is one terribly good dragon tale that will leave readers laughing," says Kirkus in their starred review.

Caution! Grumpasaurus Crossing! Field Guide to the Grumpasaurus from the notes of Edward Hemingway

The observations that follow in this field guide tell you everything you need to know about the formidable Badmoodicus grumpasauricus, more commonly known as the North American Grumpasaurus.

Curious?

Known variously as the Grumpelstiltskin or the Grumpsby, it is a rather common household menace.

It is often seen sulking around after a great tragedy or mishap.

Like a "dis-armed" Teddy bear!

Take warning if you see the atmosphere altering. You know, like lightning strikes. Thunder cracking.

Do not approach too closely. In fact, it's better to take to your heels and ...

Head for the hills!

The Grump will ROAR! It will gnash its (unbrushed) teeth.

The Grumpasaurus will always seek out the nearest adult, demand attention, and get ready to speak its mind.

Earplugs are advised for those who venture close. And if said adult decrees that a nice soothing bath is prescribed for the Great Grumpsby, stay out of range of splashes!

In the forthcoming Field Guide to the Grumpasaurus (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2016), author-illustrator Edward Hemingway provides a nifty spiral-bound handbook for the care and placating of this tantrum-prone beastie when the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune transmogrify the average preschooler into a fanged beastasaurus. Fortunately, all's well that ends well with a sutured-up Teddy bear and a mutual hug between Mom and her little Grumpelstiltskin, and it's finally safe for the rest of the family to come out of hiding.

A pseudo-serious spoof of the field guide genre adds a note of wry humor to this visit to another family dwelling where a certain displeased Wild Thing runs amok when things go wrong. Hemingway lets his little black cat do the reacting to most of the tantrum-tossing and still get in on the magical transformation as the Grumpasaurus shape-changes just in time for the cat to nap in his lap. Purrrrr!

And purr-haps it's not too much to hope that the average tot will see a bit of himself in this cautionary tale and learn to calm his own inner beast.

Pair (if you dare) this one with the Caldecott-winning When Sophie Gets Angry--Really, Really Angry…. (Scholastic Bookshelf)

Case Closed! Dinosaur Vs. Mommy by Bob Shea

MOMMY TAKING A QUICK SHOWER! (ROAR!!)

TRAIN! (ROAR!)

BUNNY! (ROAR! ROAR!)

FLUSH!!

DINOSAUR WINS! (ROAR! ROAR!! ROAR!!!)

While Mommy is seeking to make short shrift of a shower, little Dinosaur enjoys a bit of water play himself, dropping first his toy train and then his plush bunny down the toilet and flushing!

There's a rip-roaring dinosaur flood ready for Mommy when she steps out of the shower.

But that's not even the beginning of Dinosaur's day with Mommy, which started with a roar with Mommy trying to catch a few extra winks of sleep and Dino bouncing on her bed with what seems an excess of exuberance.

"MOMMY!  MOMMY!! MOMMY!!!....MOMMY!!!!!!!

The day provides plenty of contests with the ever-patient Mommy--an excursion to the supermarket, tossing the freshly-folded laundry, and finally reluctantly getting into the bath (ROAR!), reluctantly getting out of the bath, (ROAR, ROAR), and putting on pajamas (and taking the tighty-whities off his head).

Mommy collapses into the comfy chair! Dinosaur wins, right? MORE ROARS!

Will Mommy fall asleep first? It looks like the judgment is with Dinosaur's side of the case, until, in a tribute to the power of Mommies everywhere, he climbs into Mommy's soft, warm lap, in Bob Shea's latest, Dinosaur vs. Mommy (A Dinosaur vs. Book) (Hyperion Books, 2015). In Shea's vibrant Dinosaur Vs. series, his ebullient little Dinosaur has already taken on many toddler challenges--bedtime, school, the library, Santa, and his magnum conquest, the potty! A close look at the book's cover reveals that his sweet Mommy and Dinosaur drawing is being done by Dinosaur with Mommy's pink lipstick on the wall, followed by a quick sequence of sight gags that will keep preschoolers roaring with giggles as Dinosaur makes his way through the day with Mom, taking on each challenge with verve and the seemingly inexhaustible energy of little ones. "Shea's Dinosaur titles will never fail to be read-aloud hits," roars Kirkus Reviews.

The Grumpster: Crankenstein by Samantha Berger and Dan Santat

EVERY MORNING DURING THE PRODUCTION OF THIS BOOK, DAN SANTAT DEPRIVED HIMSELF OF COFFEE.

JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF CRANKINESS WAS IMPERATIVE!

And why would that erstwhile jolly jokester Dan Santat want to get in a grouchy groove? Because he's got to find the proper funk to draw Crankenstein as he goes through one of his downright disgruntled days.

HAVE YOU SEEN CRANKENSTEIN? YOU'D TOTALLY KNOW IF YOU HAD. YOU'D SAY "IT'S A GOOD DAY!"

CRANKENSTEIN WOULD SAY...


MEHHRRRR!

Crankenstein is a bit of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde hybrid. He'll be looking like a regular kid, about to tuck into a stack of pancakes... and if there's only a pitiful drop of syrup left in the bottle, he becomes ... Crankenstein. A cold rain, untied shoelaces dragging in the puddles, a bit of dog poo on his shoe, a melting-too-fast popsicle, a long, long, line for the carnival ride, a spoonful of gross-o medicine--all are enough to turn his face as green as the Incredible Hulk's and signal a temper tantrum on the way! Is there anything out there funny enough to make this sulky kid smile?

Samantha Berger's just-published Crankenstein (Little, Brown, 2013), peevishly illustrated by a sullen, out-of-sorts, definitely decaffeinated Dan Santat, has just the right tongue-in-cheek touch to tug a smile out of the grumpiest kid, especially when he gets the chance to meet another grumpster just as temperamental as he is. Calling all ye green meanies! As Kirkus Reviews promises, "Get ready to read this aloud a lot.

Presumably, author Samantha Berger is into bad behavior, being the author of Martha Doesn't Share! and Martha Doesn't Say Sorry! (see my reviews here), and Dan Santat has surely battled his share of bad outcomes in his illustrations for Mac Barnett's Oh No!: Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World. (see review here).