BOO! Guess Who? Little Blue Truck's Halloween by Alice Schertle

Little Blue Truck
and his good friend Toad
are going to a party
just down the road.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

says Little Blue.

"It's Halloween! You come, too.

Brightly colored leaves are swirling in the breeze, and jack o'lanterns grin from gateposts and dooryards, as Toad drives Little Blue Truck down the road. Who's that ahead?

Who's this clown
with the big red nose?
and a cap that jingles
wherever he goes?

Under the mask,
who do you see?

"Baa!" says the sheep.
"It's me! It's me!"

One by one, the costumed animals are waiting by the road--Duck in a tutu, a queenly Cow in a crown, Pig with scraggly hair under a tall, pointed black hat, Hen in a feathered pirate hat, and Horse sporting a dragon's fiery breath, wings, and spiked tail. Little Blue Truck stops for each one to ask "Who do you see?" and each party-goer is found under the flap saying "It's me!" Soon Little Blue's loadbed is full of costumed friends who unload at the barn to sample the treats and dance to the music.

The barn is jumpin' and the party is in full swing. But where are Toad and Little Blue Truck?

And who is that looking like a giant ghost--with great big glassy glowing eyes?

Under that sheet it can only be...

It's you-know-who!

"Beep! Beep! BOO!"

In a delightfully designed board book edition, it's Alice Schertle's Little Blue Truck's Halloween (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), all ready to introduce preschoolers to the custom of dressing up to celebrate Halloween. There are clues for the youngest toddlers visible under each disguise, and a lift of each super-sturdy flap reveals the animal's distinctive sound (Quack! Moo! Cluck!) as he or she unmasks and offers an ID. Author Alice Schertle is a past master of of jolly-metered quatrains and predictable rhymes which offer pre-reading skills for tots which also help the emergent reader solo on this story, and with the familiar illustrations of Jill McElmurry, this new one, out in plenty of time to have on hand for the spooky season, adds to the admirable list of books in the Little Blue Truck series.

Sorry to end on an old cliche'.
But there's only one thing I can say!

Little Blue Truck's Halloween is adorable!

Bedding Down: The SheepOver (Sweet Pea and Friends) by John and Jennifer Churchman

IT WAS WAY PAST BEDTIME, AND LADDIE THE SHEEP DOG WAS STILL AWAKE....

A good sheep dog sleeps lightly, and Laddie senses that something is amiss among the stalls. It's time to wake up Farmer John.

As Owl calls and Red Fox steals past the barn on silent feet, Farmer John follows his sheep dog to where the orphan lamb Sweet Pea is curled up in the hay.

SWEET PEA'S NOSE WAS HOT AND PINK.

SHE COULDN'T STAND UP BY HERSELF.

Sadie the pony and Prem, Sunny, and Violet, the grown-up sheep watch as Farmer John gently picks up Sweet Pea and carries her up to the greenhouse on the hill. The rooster Buff Orpington crows her name and Keeper the goose honks out...

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH SWEET PEA?

But Farmer John knows what to do. He calls up Vet Allison and soothes little Sweet Pea, promising that when she is well, he will let her have a sheep sleepover with all her friends in the greenhouse.

The country vet quickly diagnoses an infected cut which is causing ther fever, and Laddie and Prem stay with Sweet Pea as she begins to recover.

And sure enough, Sweet Pea is soon frolicking again with Sunny and Violet, and when everyone has been invited, the big SheepOver is a success, with disco dancing and treats for all the animals.

IT WAS THE BEST SHEEPOVER EVER!

John and Jennifer Churchman's runaway hit, The SheepOver (Sweet Pea & Friends) (Little, Brown and Company, 2015) is an appealing story of the softer side of farm life. But the illustrations are the standout, combining actual photos of the Churchmans' animals enhanced with artwork which retains the look of real animals within a muted palette which intensifies their expressions, as the nighttime rural scenery and spatter-painted backgrounds reinforce the gentle warmth of the story. This is one lamb that preschoolers and young primary readers will want to invite to their own sleepovers.

Now Ewe Know: Little Lamb by L. Rigo

Bunnies, ducklings, chicks, and the ever-popular egg get most of the ink, but lambs are traditional symbols of Easter and spring, too, and rams, ewes, and especially lambs get their due in L.Rigo's Little Lamb (Mini Look at Me Books) (Barron's, 2014).

A small (even by board book standards) book, die-cut in the shape of a sweet, sitting lambkin and endowed with undeniable cuteness, this one is tiny enough for very young hands.  Its thick, sturdy pages are easy to turn, offering the youngsters an opportunity to handle a book and learn to turn the pages all by themselves.

The soft watercolor illustrations are of pleasant pastoral scenes, as new mothers lead their lambs out for the first time into the wide world.  There is some information for a read-aloud session with the sheep-family names--ewe, ram, lamb--and a smattering of knowledge--that older sheep eat grass, while little lambs just like mommy's milk--but because of its appealing shape, this toy-and-movable-book format is more "toy" than a "book," with only a few page turns of springtime scenes, a toy book that may even find its way into the crib or toddler bed.

For Easter gifts and baskets for toddlers, this one has a lot of visual and tactile appeal. There are also a whole flock  of literary lamb stories out there, including Laura Numeroff's and Lynn Munsinger's Lots of Lambs (see its review here), Little Lamb: Finger Puppet Book (Finger Puppet Brd Bks), Usborne's finger-feely-friendly That's Not My Lamb... (Usborne Touchy-Feely Books,) or for a nonfiction approach, Judy Dunn's popular The Little Lamb (Pictureback(R)).