The Mutton Maker! Mary Had A Little Lab by Sue Fliess

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAB.
SHE TESTED AND CREATED.
WHILE OTHER KIDS WERE AT THE PARK,
SHE BUILT AND CALCULATED.

Mary loves her little lab, but she sometimes gets lonely there.

Perhaps having a pet would help. But Mary doesn't go to the pet store. She's a scientist!

She sneaks a snip of a sheep's fleece, and slips back to her lab to analyze the DNA and clone herself a lamb. She creates the perfect sheep-making machine, which she christens "The Sheepinator," and her first run produces a lovely little lamb who snuggles and cuddles and follows her everywhere. And, of course, it had to happen; Mary didn't say nay, so....

SHE FOLLOWED HER TO SCHOOL ONE DAY.

The lamb is a big hit at school. Mary finds herself the most popular kid in the class, and all her new friends clamber for a lamb of their own. Proudly, Mary leads them to demonstrate just what her science can create:

SHE LED THEM TO HER LITTLE LAB.
"BEHOLD THE SHEEPINATOR!
I SIMPLY PRESS THIS BUTTON HERE...
THE WOOLLY DUPLICATOR!"

The children are delighted as their sheep roll forth from the Sheepinator, but then there's a malfunction in Mary's mutton maker! The Sheepinator won't quit! In fact, it creates quite a glut of sheep! What shall Mary and her schoolmates do with all these shaggy pets with their fleecy pelts?

There are plenty of warm woolen sweaters in everyone's future, in Sue Fliess's funny fractured nursery rhyme, Mary Had a Little Lab (Albert Whitman, 2018). Author Fliess perfectly captures the cadence of the original rhyme scheme of "Mary Had A Little Lamb," and also borrows the age-old device of The Sorcerer's Apprentice in which the duplications just won't quit coming, while slyly putting in a plug for girls in science. Fliess's parody also succeeds with`the help of artist Petros Bouloubasis's soft and comical illustrations. "A rhyming picture book that would make even Dr. Seuss jealous...," says Shelf Awareness for Readers' reviewer.

School Days: The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School by Laura Murray

"I BEGAN IN A BOWL."

Lovingly but with lots of giggles, a class stirs up a batch of ginger cookie dough, rolls it out, and artistically decorates their gingerbread man. But just as he's being taken out of the oven, the bell rings for recess. The kids bustle outside, leaving the cooling gingerbread man hot to trot.

"I'M THE GINGERBREAD MAN AND I'M TRYING TO FIND

 THE CHILDREN WHO MADE ME AND LEFT ME BEHIND."

But  a couple of minutes behind, the poor cookie man has to hustle. He gets flattened by a loose soccer ball from the gym,
Coach retrieves it from the hall:

"GOOD GRIEF! IT'S A COOKIE!

OH, NO! HERE'S A TOE!"

Coach escorts the Gingerbread Man to the school nurse's office, where a bit of goofy glue repairs his foot--sort of.

"I LIMP AND I'LL LIMP AS FAST AS I CAN...."

Now more than a couple of more minutes behind his class, the Gingerbread Man gamely continues, taking a short cut by sliding down a banister. Airborne, he lands in the art teacher's lunch sack on top of a sandwich. Good humoredly, she takes her drop-in friend to the office.

Just as Principle Peacock is considering what administrative action to take, a group of kids come by, putting up signs with his picture and with a welcome message:

MISSING!

ROOM 23

PLEASE RETURN!

HE'S OUR GINGERBREAD MAN.

It's time for one tough cookie to return to his classroom and his class, where his kids get busy building him a gingerbread house, in Laura Murray's latest, The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2013). If you started school anytime in the past forty or fifty years, you probably have fond memories of your hunt for the runaway Gingerbread Man, a clever scheme of Kindergarten teachers to take kids on a tutorial tour of the layout and personnel of the elementary school, and this tall tale is a good way to introduce a preschool or Kindergarten class to this important rite of passage.

Other sweet schooltime treats include Murray's community helpers account, The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Fire Truck and Joan Holub's The Gingerbread Kid Goes to School (Penguin Young Readers, L2).

Stage Flight Fright: Bawk & Roll by Tammi Sauer

Elvis Poultry lowered his shades. "C'mon, chicks! Let's roll!"

Their first stop on the tour is McDoodle's Barnyard.

Elvis Poultry and the Chicken Dancers took the stage. The lights went down. The barnyard went wild.

"WOAH!" said Lola. "We don't know anyone!"

The chickens trembled. They fanned their wattles.

They ... fainted!

These hot, hard-rockin' hens have passed their audition, but their first appearance on tour lays an egg. Their gig at McDoodle's is a dud.

The Chicken Dancers psych themselves up to do better at their next venue by agreeing to visualize the fans in their underwear. But stage fright freezes these hot fryers again. The Daily Cluck's headline crows:

CHICKEN DANCERS CHICKEN OUT

Marge and Lola try everything they can come up with to revive their pluck. Elvis tries to take the spotlight off them by having them all parachute onto the stage, but the chickens' entrance is a crash landing.

The hens try relaxation techniques--painting, bubble baths, hypnotism, yoga meditation, even knitting--but all to no avail. Stage fright threatens to send these hot chicks back to the freezer. Elvis gives them one last chance--a booking at Dale's Dairy Farm-or they'll soon be backing up the cock-a-doodle boys in their own coop.

And then Marge and Lois bird-brainstorm up an idea that might just save their act. The chickens cross the road--to post a special delivery letter back to their feathered friends. Will their plan work?

The Chicken Dancers are ditzy as they peer through the curtains. The house lights reveals a tough crowd of hefty Holsteins.

"This doesn't look good," said Lois. "We're going to get moooo-ed."

But in that cow crowd the Chicken Dancers hear some familiar voices from home cheering them on.

"They got our letter!" whispered Lola.

"HEY, DALE'S DAIRY FARM! LET'S SEE YOUR MOOOOOOVES!"

In their long-awaited return engagement, Tammi Sauer's and Dan Santat's Bawk & Roll (Chicken Dance) (Sterling, 2012), those high-stepping hens back up their rockin' rooster at last in a rousing sequel to their opener, Chicken Dance (Sterling Books) (see my review here) in another poultry parody that will definitely crack up the kids. Sauer's puns are sharp as a beak, and Santat's visual wit is well tuned in this hard-boiled rockin' tale.

"Another tongue-in-beak tale from Sauer and Santat," cackles School Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews crows, "This flock rocks!"