And A Ducky New Year! A Very Quacky Christmas by Francis Watts

SAMANTHA DUCK WAS GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS. "WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS," SHE SANG, AS SHE WRAPPED TINSEL AROUND THE REEDS.

Her very sensible friend Sebastian the turtle was bemused.

"CHRISTMAS IS NOT FOR ANIMALS," HE OBSERVED.

But Samantha is not deterred by his nay-saying. Soon there are ornamnents hanging on most of the trees. She hangs her Christmas stocking. She informs Sebastian that she is going to give presents to animals all over the world! Sebastian repeats his injunction that animals don't do Christmas.

"CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT GIVING AND SHARING, ISN'T IT?

AND ANIMALS LIKE TO GIVE AND SHARE, DON'T THEY?" ASKED SAMANTHA.

Sebastian reluctantly agrees. Well, then, that's settled. Samantha suggests that Sebastian has to help her make and deliver all those gifts.

It's a case of Sense and Sensibility. Sebastian has huge doubts, but Samantha feels that giving gifts around the world is the thing to do and do-able, besides. And when the animals of the farm hear Samantha's idea, they pitch right in. The sheep give wool and Samanatha (and Sebastian) knit socks and scarves. The chickens lay lots of eggs and Samantha makes Christmas goodies. The cows donate daisies from their pasture and Samantha and Sebastian make dozens and dozens of daisy chains. Donkey offers his cart to deliver the gifts and all pitch in to load the gifts into his wagon. But Sebastian points out an apparent delivery problem.

"WE'LL MAKE A BIG RUN, SAMANTHA SUGGESTED, "AND I'LL FLAP MY WINGS AND WE'LL FLY."

"ABSURD!" SAID SEBASTIAN. "IT'LL NEVER WORK!"

Samantha flaps furiously, but the lift-off fails twice. Perhaps Sebastian was right from the beginning, she thinks sadly.

"NO, YOU WERE RIGHT!" SAID SEBASTIAN. "CHRISTMAS IS FOR ANIMALS. LET'S GIVE IT ONE MORE TRY."

And before the evening star has risen to its meridian, the cart rises in the sky and the two stand-in Santas are on the way to bring Christmas to animals all over the world....

And it's a quacky New Year" all around as well, in Frances Watts' plucky, ducky story, A Very Quacky Christmas (Doubleday Books). Author Watts is assisted by the award-winning Aussie illustrator Ann James' fine line drawings that puts the emphasis on the two benefactors' good intentions. Says School Library Journal, "Giving and sharing never had a better advertisement than this sweet farm story."

Share this one with Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin's wacky, quacky Christmas farm yarn with another jolly substitute Santa Duck, Click, Clack, Ho! Ho! Ho! (A Click Clack Book). (See my review here.)

Treasure Quest: Oona by Kelly DiPucchio

OONA WAS SWEET... AND A LITTLE BIT SALTY....

... All of which behooves a little mermaid who lives in the deeps of the sea with her best friend, a cute sea otter named Otto, although not without frequent visits to the beach to collect seashells for her collection and visit with the folks in the shallows. But being a mermaid, Oona had a penchant for searching for treasure, too--coins, bottles, keys. Otto even found a pair of glasses.

BUT THERE WAS ONE SPECIAL TREASURE OONA COULD NEVER QUITE REACH--THE CROWN. IT WAS EXTRA SPARKLY!

STILL, OONA WAS DETERMINED.

.

But the crown was stuck in a deep, narrow rift in the sea bottom, and Oona couldn't quite fathom how to extract it, until, beachcoming with Otto, she found a long, spiraled and pointy shell that had distinct possibilities. But there was always a significant problem--a giant squid, a shark, a conk on the head from a drifting plank, and...

CRABBY CRABS! WAVY WAVES!

ALTHOUGH MERMAIDS ARE GENERALLY NOT QUITTERS... OONA SAID, "I QUIT!"

But without her quest, Oona feels as if she's lost her spark and finally, wearing the glasses to protect her eyes from swirling sand and carrying her spiraling shell for drilling purposes, she decides to dive deep in a final quest to fetch the crown. And even if all that glitters really is gold, Oona finds what she really needs to retrieve her spark may lie beyond, in Kelly DiPucchio's Oona (HarperCollins, 2021).

In lovely lush, watery greens, blues, and purples, Raisa Figuroa's illustrations of endearing marine animals are appealing, and little Oona is definitely not your usual Hans Christian Anderson OR Disney mermaid. Writes School Library Journal in their starred review, “This title celebrates independence, self-confidence, and bravery to try the new even after defeat as Oona becomes aware of the true treasure in her personal effort.”

At the OLD Ballgame! Mr. Putter and Tabby Drop the Ball by Cynthia Rylant

Mr. Putter and his good cat Tabby love their naps--naps in the tomato garden, naps in the porch swing, naps in the hammock, even in the car! One day Mr. Putter wakes up from his nap with a new thought.

"We nap too much!" Mr. Putter said to Tabby. "We need a sport!"

Mr. Putter heads down to the basement and comes back with his old baseball mitt. Tabby is awake now and worried. Her frisky days are well behind her!

"We need a TEAM!" declared Mr. Putter.

When in doubt, Mr. Putter always calls his neighbor, Mrs. Teaberry.

Mrs. Teaberry knows just the team for Mr. Putter!

"The Yankee Doodle Dandies!" she says. "You will feel young on that team!

We'll both play!"

Now that he's got the ball rolling, so to speak, Mr. Putter begins to have second thoughts. What about his bad knees that don't want to bend? Is he too old for baseball?

When they arrive the game is in full swing. There is a base runner heading for home plate. He is running, sort of, very, very slowly. The crowd waits and waits and waits and waits.

"I feel pretty young!" said Mr. Putter.

The Yankee Doodle Dandies are happy to have some fresh, new recruits and put Mr. Putter in the outfield and Mrs. Teaberry in at shortstop, commanding her good dog Zeke to STAY in the dugout. Tabby is already ready for a nap.

But when a ball is hit toward Mrs. Teaberry, Zeke runs into the infield and grabs it. GLOMP! The rival team scores a run while Mrs. Teaberry and the Dandies chase Zeke all around the infieldto retrieve the ball. Zeke is benched!

Then the next batter hits a grounder into the outfield, rolling right toward Mr. Putter, who charges to field that ball. It's right at his feet. He can save the game for the Dandies! But...

His knees would not bend.

But it's Zeke to the rescue. With a timely assist, he glomps the ball and puts it right into Mr. Putter's glove. And Mr. Putter throws the ball hard, right to the catcher. The runner is out! The crowd goes wild!

Even benchwarmer Tabby wakes up, in Cynthia Rylant's beginning reader book,
Mr. Putter and Tabby Drop the Ball (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Artist Arthur Howard's jolly comic illustrations, done with verve in watercolor and gouache, add much to the fun, as Mr. Putter, Mrs. Teaberry, Zeke and Tabby celebrate with ... what else...a nap!

Kirkus Reviews calls it "A home run!"

Friend in Need and in Deed! Poppleton in Fall by Cynthia Rylant

It's autumn, and Poppleton needs a new winter coat. His old patched coat is not up to keeping him warm this year.

He heads downtown to the coat store.

"I need a new coat, Zacko," he said.

Zacko measured Poppleton from head to toe, from side to side, and then all around. "I have nothing to fit you," he announced. "You're too big."

I AM NOT!" cried Poppleton.

Poppleton stomped home. He studied his image in his mirror.

"I AM too big," he said, gloomily.

He slumped sadly into his easy chair.

His friend Cherry Sue spotted him through the window and inquires what's wrong. Poppleton confessed that he's sad to find out that he's too big to buy a coat! Cherry Sue was indignant.

"WHO SAYS?" she demanded.

Poppleton explained that Zacko at the town's only coat store said so. And so did his own mirror.

"POSH!" said Cherry Sue. "Zacko is a FERRET! You are a big pig! BE PROUD!"

"I'd rather be proud IN A COAT," Poppleton said.

But all's well that ends well, as Cherry Sue returned triumphantly, waving a catalog, BIG AND TALL PIGS!

"I get ALL the catalogs," she says.

Poppleton, a friendly pig who offers cookies to all the migrating geese flying over his house, deserves a friend as good as he is, in Cynthia Rylant's seasonal beginning chapter book,Poppleton in Fall: An Acorn Book (Poppleton 4) (Scholastic/Acorn, 2020). With the jolly, engaging illustrations of the award-winning artist, Mark Teague, Rylant's talent in creating endearing characters in cozy vignettes that delight primary readers is found in all of her early reader series, including Henry and Mudge: The First Book (Henry & Mudge), and Mr. Putter & Tabby I, 12 Volumes (Bilingual Version of English And Chinese).

Food Fight! Pizza and Taco: Who's the Best? by Stephen Shaskan

Taco spots his top pal, Pizza, (with whom he shares a lot of toppings). Taco overshoots their high five and takes a tumble!

"I'm okay!" says Taco. "I'm just glad to see you! You're my best friend We are... BEST BESTIES!"

They do their Besties routine:

BIG JUMP!

FIST BUMP!

BUTT BUMP!

They agree they are better buddies than Hamburger and Hot Dog. But then Pizza gets a bit hot under his pepperoni, pointing out that only ONE of them can be THE best! They toss slogans at each other.

"MELTY CHEESE! SLICE OF LIFE!" shouts Pizza.

"TASTY BEEF" SPICY!" Taco yells back.

Pizza shouts that HE is the best. He demands a vote! But Pizza tries to cheat on the ballot count, and Taco takes over. The vote is a tie! Pizza demands a trial by Waterslide at the Water Park. Pizza wins the belly-whopper heat, and Taco takes the backsie heat. But if they are both the best--

"What is the true...: says Pizza "...meaning of the best?..." asks Taco.

BEST FRIENDS! they shout together. BIG JUMP! FIST BUMP! BUTT BUMP! font-size: large;"YAY!

Stephen Shaskan's Pizza and Taco: Who's the Best? (Random House, 2020) is the latest entry in the growing graphic novel genre for middle readers, this one starring fast food friends Taco and Pizza and their foodie frienemies Hamburger and Hot Dog, as the menu rivals work out their pecking order. Edible characters like those in the best-selling Peanut Butter and Jelly (A Narwhal and Jelly Book 3) have been popular and Pizza and Taco are jolly comic cartoon characters in this likable new series. “YAAAS! This lunch bunch serves pure silliness,” says Kirkus Reviews.

And for more of the YUM CHUMS, Shaskan has a sequel. Pizza and Taco: Best Party Ever!

Tabby Does Storytime: Mr. Putter and Tabby Turn the Page by Cynthia Rylant

Mr. Putter and Tabby liked quiet things--like napping and reading. Mr. Putter read quietly to Tabby. When he did, Tabby purred (not too loudly). They liked libraries, too, because they were usually quiet. But one day Mr. Tabby saw a sign there that gave him a new idea:

READ ALOUD WITH YOUR PET AT STORY TIME.

Mr. Putter signed up.

He was even excited. So...

Mr. Putter made a mistake. He told his neighbor, Mrs. Teabury.

Mrs. Teabury loved anything new. Anything.

Her good dog Zeke loved anything new and exciting. And everything was exciting to Zeke.

Mr. Putter was worried about taking Zeke to the library storytime, but the deed was done. He practiced reading his bear book with GUSTO! He worried about combining Zeke and gusto.

At the library Mrs. Teaberry read her book about a dog.

When the dog in the story barked, Zeke barked.

When the dog in the story howled, Zeke howled.

He even ran away, just like the dog in the story. But Mrs. Teaberry knew Zeke always came back, so she did not get excited.

Mr. Putter read his bear story with lots of gusto. Tabby went from lap to lap to one head and purred, and the kids clapped loudly when his story was done.

Suddenly Zeke came back from the staff break room with a cheese sandwich in his mouth.

He also smelled of grapefruit juice!

Storytime had been very exciting.

It wasn't all that quiet, but everyone shared in the gusto, and now it's time to head home for tea and raisin biscuits in Mrs. Teaberry's kitchen, in Cynthia Rylant's Mr. Putter and Tabby Turn the Page (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). There are many humorous subtleties in artist Arthur Howard's clever and comical drawings to fill in the details in Rylant's story of friendship, libraries, and a bit of gusto. Says Booklist,In the 20 years since the Mr. Putter and Tabby series began, its signature combination of storytelling, wit, and humanity have made it a staple of the beginning reader section."

Recalibrating! Best Friends In The Universe by Stephanie Watson

Louie and Hector have a lot in common. They are such good friends they just have to write a book about their friendship.

"Wanna know why we're best friends? "says Louie.

"We both love pythons!" says Hector.

"Our moms got us both fish. We both named our fish Python, says Louie.

They both love knock-knock jokes and dancing to loud music. They both love inventing new foods.

"Here's a peanut butter toast milkshake!" says Louie.

They are such good friends that they decide they need to change the title of their book....

BEST FRIENDS IN THE UNIVERSE FOREVER AND EVER!

"We keep each other's secrets," brags Louie.

"Like how one time Louie wet his pants after too much peanut butter toast milkshake!" says Hector.

"You just told everyone my secret!" says Louie. Ooopsie!

SO... Louie smirks, as he raises his voice. "Hector likes Linda Berger!"

Maybe it's time to retitle their book again!

WORST FRIENDS IN THE UNIVERSE?

Is this the end of the friendship of Louie and Hector? Or will they find that their goldfish are just not up to being best friends? After all, fish don't dance and their sense of humor is totally lacking!

After all, maybe their kind of loose-lipped friendship is worth a do-over, in Stephanie Watson's humorous story of best friends forever in spite of themselves, Best Friends in the Universe (Scholastic Books). With the hilarious and ebullient faux naif crayon drawings of noted picture book artist Le Uyen Pham, this is one funny and fun friendship that kids will love and perhaps from which they may learn a bit about being good friends.

A Friend Indeed: My Friend by Elisa Amado

I knew you would be my best friend the day I came to school the first time.

Right away you understood so much about me. And I understood you.

The two girls don't look alike, but they understand each other. They are different but they learn to share everything. They are best friends, even when the other kids cannot see why.

But when one invites the other girl to have dinner with her family, it feels awkward.

I could tell you didn't like the food so much.

But that was okay. You'd never eaten our kind of food before.

And then her dad talks too loud and too much, and then he sings along with his favorite CD--way too loud.

But I could see that you were trying to understand and be really polite.

I was kind of embarrassed, but then I thought to myself, you are my best friend.

But her best friend asks to go home way too early.

And on the way to school the next morning, the girl wonders if she no longer has a best friend.

But there is someone is waiting for her in front of the school, in Elisa Amado's My Friend (Groundwood Books, 2019). Amado's story of two friends who take the first step of negotiating family differences bravely takes on a part of childhood that most kids encounter as they grow up, in which the lucky ones learn that people can be friends even when they don't share all the same things. A friend in need in a friend indeed. Artist Alfonso Ruando's realistic and detailed illustrations and sense of place ground this heartwarming story of enduring friendship.

Vive La Difference! Sorrel and the Sleepover by Corrinne Averiss

Sorrel had never had a friend who was just the same, until she met Sage.

Squirrel girls Sorrel and Sage share the same favorite games and songs at school. They finish each other's sentences. They even have the exact same stripes on their tails.

So Sorrel is pleased when she gets an invitation to spend the night with Sage. What could go wrong? They are just alike.

But Sage's house is different--a huge fir tree with a thick trunk and lots of branches, filled with lots and lots of grownup family and dozens of cousins!

"I can't wait to stay at your house next time," said Sage.

Sorrel squirmed....

Sorrel's house is very different from Sage's. The trunk of her tree is skinny and wobbly in the wind. The branches are lumpy and some are broken. And Sorrel lives there alone with only her mother.

"Best friends don't have differences," Sorrel thought.

Sorrell comes up with some, er, creative reasons why she can't invite Sage can't come over: Her mom has come down with an upset stomach from eating bad nuts; a crowd of cousins are coming for the weekend; a water pipe has broken and flooded the kitchen. Finally, Sorrel comes up with a whopper: her mom has just painted their tree pink and they can't touch the wet paint.

But the next day, as Sage and Sorrel play hide-and-squeak, the wind blows a bunch of pink petals their way. Sage scampers off excitedly toward the source of the petals.

"This must be from your house. It's so... BEAUTIFUL!"

And Sorrel's modest little tree is beautiful, loaded with pink blossoms. Her mother invites Sage in for tea, and when Sage politely compliments her friend's mother on her choice of paint, the truth comes out. Sorrel explains that she was afraid Sage wouldn't be her friend if she knew her house was so different.

"You're so lucky. I don't know anyone who sleeps in pink clouds!" says Sage.

There's a insightful little lesson into what makes for good friends in Corrinne Averiss' Sorrel and the Sleepover (Barron's, 2018). Despite the cell phone which can be spotted on one page, artist Susan Varley's charming soft ink and water-colored illustrations stick to a muted retro style that alternates between spot-art on the verso pages and full-frame pictures on each recto, and her gentle jumper- and plaid-clad schoolgirl squirrels perfectly suit this quiet story of friendship found.

Free Time! Paddington's Day Off by Michael Bond

One day Paddington went out for a walk.

He went to see Mr. Gruber, who owned a shop in the Portobello Road market.

"It is such a beautiful day! Let's take the day off," said Mr. Gruber.

Hanging a CLOSED sign on his shop door, Mr. Gruber invites Paddington's friends Jonathan and Judy along and with a picnic lunch packed, the four of them set off, Mr. Gruber providentially taking along his suitcase with a map, guidebook, and opera glasses inside. After all, one never knows what a day with Paddington will bring!

Soon the jolly expedition has trekked far from home and enters the park.

"What's that sound?" said Mr. Gruber suddenly.

It's a band in the bandstand in the center of the park. And appropriately, they are playing the "Surprise Symphony!" What could the surprise be? While Mr. Gruber and the children are setting out their picnic, Paddinton strolls up to the bandstand to find out. Seeing a small door marked Private under the stage, Paddington opens it and walks right through, but when it closes behind him, he finds he's locked inside. It's rather dark and most unpleasant under there, and Paddington wants out. He picks up an old broom and begins to knock on the ceiling, which is actually the floor of the stage where the band is playing.

BUMP! BUMP! BUMP!

The conductor jumped!

Mr. Gruber notices that the music doesn't sound just right, and he also notices that Paddington is missing! Could there be a connection between those two things?

It's not exactly the surprise that Joseph Haydn had written in the score when the conductor opens the trapdoor onstage and Paddington climbs up from underneath.

"Oh! It's a bear," he observes.

Well, that is a surprise, as the very composed conductor hands over his baton to Paddington Bear to complete the "Surprise Symphony." It's not your usual day in the park, but as in Michael Bond's Paddington's Day Off (I Can Read Level 1) (Harper, 2017) there's always something unexpected where the very unusual Peruvian bear named Paddington is concerned.

With a series of perpetually popular children's novels beginning in 1958 with A Bear Called Paddington, and ending in 2017 with Bond's last novel, Paddington's Finest Hour, with a long-running cartoon series and two full-length Paddington movies (the 2014 Paddington and the 2018 Paddington 2) and now an I-Can-Read series by the venerable author himself, it seems that even with the death of Michael Bond in 2017 at the age of 91, Paddington will be there for children who promise to "Please look after this bear" for a long, long time.

A Single Step: Come With Me by Holly McGhee

All over the world, the news is told and told and retold of anger and hatred.

The little girl was frightened.

Kids can't be kept from hearing about bad things. Sometimes it's hard not to be frightened. What can this little girl do to make it better?

Her Papa said, "Come with me."

Her father takes her by the hand, out on the street and down into the subway. The girl is confused. They ride through the long tunnels, and everyone looks sad and shut up inside themselves. But then her papa tips his hat, and some of the people smile back.

They won a tiny battle over fear.

Still the people-against-people news is bad, and the little girl asks again what she can do about it. Her mother takes her hand and takes her out to get things for dinner.

The grocery store is full of foods and people from all over the world, and her mother tells her,

"One person doesn't represent a family, or a race or the people of one land."

But what can she do to make the world better? The child ponders as she sets the table and eats with her parents, while her little dog lies under the table. Maybe she can take him out for a walk all by herself.

Her parents look like they are not sure about that. But maybe the boy across the hall can go with her.

He opens his door.

Two together are better than one.

The longest journey begins with a single step, in Holly McGhee's hopeful Come With Me (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2017). Perhaps making the world better really is one step at a time, one day at a time, and McGhee's simple story with its simple message for youngsters is that everyone and everything they do matters in this world, and that may be the best that can be said. At least, it's a good start. It's an old message, but Pascal Lamaitre's retro-styled illustrations (a little reminiscent of Syd Hoff) are so quintessentially childlike and unprepossessing that they persuasively carry the premise that a little caring and courage are sometimes all anyone has to offer the world and its ills. Says The New York Times Book Review, “Together, the words and pictures work seamlessly to deliver a powerful message: What we do matters.”

Nature or Nurture: Antoinette by Kelly DiPucchio

Mrs. Bulldog watched her puppies race through the yard.

(Ridiculously cute, aren't they? But please don't tell them that!)

Mrs. Bulldog knew (as mothers do) why each of her puppies was special. Rocky was clever! Ricky was fast! Bruno was strong!

And Antoinette? Well, unlike her burly brothers she still hadn't quite discovered what she was good at.

"Chin UP!" barked her mother. "You have something extra special! I can feel it in my bones"

Antoinette, a svelte, lithe, and dainty little poodle among her brawny brothers, feels as if she doesn't quite belong in her muscular family and is not totally reassured by Mrs. Bulldog's promise. Still, she is able to forget herself in the daily romp in the park with her brothers and their playmates, a dog family that is the mirror image of her own--three dainty poodle siblings--Fifi, Fou-Fou, Ooh-La-La--and the one sturdy bulldog Gaston.

But one day little Ooh-La-La goes AWOL from the group.

"Where is Ooh-La-La?" Mrs. Poodle asked frantically.

The playdate in the park turns into an instant search party. Clever Rocky spots footprints. Quick Ricky races to follow them around the lake. Strong Bruno leaves no boulder unmoved. But Ooh-La-La is not to be found. Ah, mon dieu! No one knows what to do.

Antoinette felt a tug in her heart and a twitch in her nose.

Following her nose down the Paris sidewalks, Antoinette takes charge, leading them through the busy streets to the Louvre Museum, where heedless of the grumpy guard she sniffs and darts through the crowd and discovers quite an unsuspected scene. It seems Ooh-La-La, in her pursuit of butterflies, has followed one to the perilous tippy-top of the statue of Winged Victory. Brava, Antoinette!

All's well that ends well, in Kelly DiPucchio's latest adventure among the ever-popular Parisienne French poodle and French bulldog pups, Antoinette (Gaston and Friends) (Atheneum Press, 2017), with a satisfying rescue and an even more happy ending (no spoiler here) for those odd ones in their families, Antoinette and Gaston.

Author DiPucchio tells this tale with verve and plenty of Gallic panache, and Caldecott-winning artist Christian Robinson's faux naif acrylic paintings portray the oh-so-French ambiance in this lost puppy tale, told en famille in a pastel palette that catches the French street scenes winsomely and winningly, so well done that Kirkus says in their starred review, "Robinson's seemingly simple artwork belies his masterful ability to imbue his characters and the places they live with an authenticity and humanity that move readers beyond the surface of the page."

See the review of Kelly DiPucchio's and Christian Robinson's companion book Gaston (Gaston and Friends)(Atheneum, 2014) here.

Sweets to the Sweet! Little Sweet Potato by Amy Beth Bloom

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A LITTLE SWEET POTATO WHO LIVED IN A GARDEN PATCH WHERE THE EARTH WAS RICH AND BROWN AND THE AIR SMELLED SWEET AND SPICY.

Life is good for Little Sweet Potato in his home patch, until an earthquake shakes things up and he finds himself bouncing over the fence and right into terra incognita.

Sensing that the middle of the road is not a good place, unless your goal in life is to be a mashed sweet potato, the little tuber sets out to locate a better place to put down roots. Ah, there's a patch of green growing things just ahead.

It's a carrot patch. Reasoning that other root veggies will be welcoming, Little Sweet Potato hopes he can plant himself with them. But no!

"WE THINK NOT!

YOU'RE LUMPY, DUMPY...AND WE HAVE TO SAY IT...

YOU'RE BUMPY! YOU DON'T BELONG!" the carrots shout, pointedly.

A proud crowd of satin-skinned purple eggplants look down their smooth noses at Little Sweet Potato and tell him to scram! A planting of flowers are not so sweet either.

It's a jungle out there!

Poor Little Sweet Potato. Being lumpy is his thing. He can't change who he is to fit in with flowers, either, so he sadly continues her search for a better patch. Rejection is everywhere until he finally hears a welcoming voice.

"HEY, YOU! LITTLE SWEET POTATO!

YEAH, YOU! BUMPY, BUMPALICIOUS! YOU'RE SWEET!" called a big potato from a big patch.

"I'M HOME?" sighs the relieved little tuber.

"IT'S NOT ALL MULCH AND SUNSHINE OUT THERE," agrees the big yam.

Little Sweet Potato finds that this garden is a roomy patch with a place for all varieties, even egalitarian eggplants and kindly carrots, and happily plants herself in a new patch. Life is again sweet, in Amy Beth Bloom's Little Sweet Potato (Katherine Tegen Books, 2013), a veggie tale with a gentle message of the virtues of savoring the differences between us all. Illustrator Noah Z. Jones obviously has fun with his sly portrayals of conceited carrots, supercilious zucchini, cliquish grapes, and egocentric eggplants, all social types that even primary readers may well recognize among their own personal patches.

Publishers Weekly points out that "the ending has just enough drollery to leaven the story’s didactic message about diversity."  And Kirkus Reviews writes. "A tale of rejection and acceptance with echoes of "The Ugly Duckling." Not bad reviews for a little side dish root veggie.

Can't Getcha Out of My Head! Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship by Edward Hemingway

MAC WAS A GOOD APPLE.

Mac is a solid guy. His shape is perfect; his color is rosy red, But something is missing. He's just a little lonely, even with all those other apples to "hang" with all around him. Then one day something is different.

WHEN MAC WOKE UP, HE WAS COVERED WITH RAINDROPS AND HE WASN'T ALONE.

YOU WON'T BELIEVE THE DREAM HE JUST HAD.

"A FUNNY LITTLE WORM WAS TICKLING ME RIGHT HERE....

AND NOW I CAN'T SEEM TO GET HIM....

... OUT OF MY HEAD."

Will the Worm seems to have taken up residence in Mac's head. But it's a good thing. They are instant friends. Will seems to finish Mac's sentences for him, and they are totally compatible. It's nice to have a friend who's always with you. Until....

"LOOK AT MAC!" SHOUT THE OTHER APPLES.

"HE'S GOT WORMS! MAC'S A ROTTEN APPLE!"

Granny Smith is sour on the whole thing. The crabapples are especially bitter about Mac's new friend, and Mac is persona non grata around the other apples.

Mac has a decision to make. The other apples shun him. They think he must have a hole in his head to hang out with a worm! But Mac knows he's still a good apple!

Edward Hemingway's strange little tale of an odd couple of friends, Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship (G.P.Putnam's Sons, 2012) uses bright 1930s-style cartoon characters with stick arms and legs to illustrate this unusual story of a friendship which may be a bit mind-bending for some readers. A wormy apple may be an off-beat metaphor for a close friendship, but this tale certainly gets the attention of the reader as it looks at all sides of the friendship story. "Tender interactions between Mac and Will (they read books together, and Will finishes Mac’s sentences) make it clear that Mac’s conclusion that he’d rather be “a Bad Apple with Will than a sad apple without him” is the right one," says Publishers Weekly.

Less Is More: Let's Do Nothing! by Tony Focile

"What are we going to do now, Frankie?"

"I don't know, Sal. I think we've done it all.

"We've played every sport ever invented, painted more pictures in a day than van Gogh did in a lifetime.

Baked enough cookies to feed a small country.

Played every board game we could find.

Read every comic book th--"

"OK, OK. Let's stop talking for ten seconds, all right? Ten seconds of NOTHING!"

It's summer vacation, and Sal and Frankie have already hit the wall! It's not that they can't THINK of anything to do. Trouble is, they've already thought of it and they've already DONE IT--to the MAX! Now what?

Well, if you've already done it all, there's only one thing left to try!

Doing NOTHING!

But doing nothing is harder than it sounds. Sal suggests that they try a little method acting to facilitate the challenge--pretend they are stone statues in the park. Frankie and Sal freeze in place. But Frankie's fertile imagination is in full play and he soon imagines pigeons lighting all over his pal. He knows what's going to happen next unless he takes action.

"Frankie, what are you doing?"

"Shooing pigeons!!"

Sal sets the stage again. They are two giant redwoods in a quiet grove in the forest. Frankie composes himself and thinks like a tree--until he imagines a spunky Chihuahua lifting his leg suspiciously around his roots. He's got to DO something!

"Frankie?"

"Your dog just went to the bathroom on ME!"

Finally the boys realize that doing nothing actually is doing something!

"That's IT. We figured it out! People have had it wrong for hundreds and hundreds of years. There's no way to do nothing!

This is big! This is REALLY BIG! You know what we have to do now, don'tcha?"

"Yep."

"LET'S DO SOMETHING!"

Tony Focile, who came up through the animated film industry, working on Finding Nemo, The Lion Kig, and The Incredibles, has a winner in the comic characters of Frankie and Sal, two kids with plenty of personality and imagination, in his Let's Do Nothing! (Candlewick Press, 2009). The summer doldrums have never been such far-out fun since, well, Marla Frazee's Caldecott Honor Book A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever. (see my post on this hilarious award winner here.)