Primate Party Pooper! Grumpy Monkey: PARTY TIME! by Suzanne Lang

One perfectly pleasant afternoon, Jim Panzee found an invitation.

You are invited to Porcupine's party!

Jim Panzee's best friend Norman is ecstatic!

"We can dance!" he exulted.

"Dance?" said Jim. "I can't DANCE!"

"CAN'T DANCE?" cried all the others.

Norman and the other animals pooh-pooh Jim's disclaimer. Hyena insists that anyone can dance. Lizard says to listen to the beat. Ostrich suggests that Jim just strut his stuff. They all demonstrate their best moves. Jim is confused by all of it.

Is Hyena hip hopping? Is Warthog waltzing? Does Lizard do the Lindy Hop?

They drag Jim out and make him try to dance. At last they declare he's ready to party down at Porcupine's bash.

Finally it's the day for grumpy Jim Panzee to reveal his dancing style. He capitulates and joins the Congo line of critters. Everyone is having a ball until suddenly Jim stops in the middle of the music and, in a moment of self-awareness, makes a pronouncement.

"NO! I DON'T LIKE DANCING!"

The dancers all stop, dumbfounded, and stare at Jim Panzee.

Then someone speaks up.

"Actually," said Water Buffalo, " I don't like dancing, but I never said anything because I thought I was the only one!"

"I always feel silly on the dance floor!" admitted Maribou.

"To be honest," added Bat, "dance floors are too LOUD!"

Porcupine is disappointed. He feels like a bad host and he bemoans the thought that all his party food will be wasted.

"WAIT!" said Jim Panzee. "There's FOOD at this party?"

It seems that there is plenty for everyone to do at Porcupine's party, in Suzanne Lang's sequel to her best-selling picture book, Grumpy Monkey (review here). In her latest, Grumpy Monkey Party Time! (Random House, 2019), with the assistance of artist Max Lang's hilarious illustrations of his curmudgeonly chimp, Lang's deft portrayal of a serious case of social anxiety offers support for those who don't enjoy boogie-ing down to feel fine about socializing in other ways. In a story that speaks to all those different drummers among its readers, Jim Panzee's latest comic adventure stands out in the crowd.

The Talk of the Town: Naughty Mabel by Nathan Lane and Devlin Elliott

"HEL-LO, DAR-LINGS. ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF~~MABEL OF THE HAMPTONS. AND THIS IS MY HUMBLE ABODE."

Mabel is one smug, posh pooch, a pampered pet French bulldog, with the emphasis on French. In her marbled mansion, she is the doggy diva of the house, indulged by her rich owners who dote on her despite her mischief-making.

"I AM NOT NAUGHTY

I AM VERY VERY NAUGHTY."

Between eating her mistress's diamonds, her master's watch, and anyone's underwear, Mabel careens about the grounds in her owner's golf cart and goes for "walks" in an elegant stroller pushed by her "parents" down only the best streets, don't you know! And as long as a bath is not involved (she is French, right?), a visit to the spa is her favorite destination.

"I KNOW A LADY ISN'T SUPPOSED TO REVEAL HER AGE, BUT I FEEL LIKE I KNOW YOU ALREADY--

I'M FIVE. OH, I KNOW I DON'T LOOK IT, BUT FIVE IS THE NEW THREE!"

But despite her aversion to sudsing, one day Mabel finds herself being given a bath! But, looking on the bright side, Mabel figures that she is being groomed for a party her parents are planning, and she happily imagines herself as the life of said soiree. She can't help boasting about her social life to her neighbor pets.

"SMARTY CAT AND SCAREDY CAT ARE JEALOUS BECAUSE THEIR HUMANS FALL ASLEEP WATCHING INFOMERCIALS!"

But on the night of the big do, Mabel finds herself stashed in her elegant bedroom early, while preparations for a posh cocktail party go on without her.

Well, that's what they think.

Mabel dons her red tutu, pearls, and red satin slippers, and slips downstairs to smooze with the best of the smart set. But she is waylaid by trays of cocktail pigs in blankets waiting to be served, and she noshes heavily before making her grand entrance.

And what an entrance it is! The guests are amused and whip out their cell phones to snap pictures of Mabel in her glittering party best. Her parents are not amused, and a chase ensues, with Mabel making quite the mess of the season's most lavish scene. And then Mabel, admitting that she has perhaps eaten too many pigs in their blankets, commits the foremost faux pas of the season.

PFFFFFFRRRRTTTTT!!!

"I SURE KNOW HOW TO CLEAR A ROOM!"

Unabashed, authors Lane and Elliot make the most of the cheap laugh at Mabel's climactic infraction, one that will keep kids laughing rip-roaringly long after the next pages are turned. Both authors are noted theatrical luminaries who doubtless have attended a few posh parties themselves and who glibly toss in some bon mots to amuse the adults reading this tale aloud. Noted film artist Dan Krall has a ball with his over-the-top illustrations of this life of the party who will be the talk of the town for several seasons.

Mabel may not be the pooch of choice for everyone, but she's certainly not your boring average mutt. As Booklist says, "Mabel is somewhere between Fancy Nancy and Rotten Ralph, and her uproarious party crashing is sure to charm little ones."

How to Party Hearty: Caterina and the Perfect Party by Erin Kone

A perfect party planner needs to be a bit of a control freak, and perky Caterina fits the job description to a C for compulsive. She begins, of course, with the necessary lists, including problems she hopes to avoid:

THINGS NOT TO LOVE
1. SURPRISES
2. SURPRISES
3. SURPRISES

Craft-y Caterina pulls out her art supplies to provide perfect handmade invitations for the perfect list of party goers. She cuts and shapes lovely lanterns and drapes crepe from the trees, and in the kitchen she concocts delicious appetizers and delightful dishes.  She even insists upon hand-folding the napkins in a novel style.  Caterina proudly proclaims her party prep perfect!

NOTHING CAN GO WRONG!

But as young readers will have intuited by this point, Caterina's best-laid plans are about to bump up against the one thing that no perfect party-giver can control--the weather. A huge windstorm lays waste to her garden party venue. The decor is destroyed and her personalized party fare is soggy and inedible. It looks as if her perfect party is a woeful washout.

However, in Erin Eitter Kono's Caterina and the Perfect Party (Dial, 2013), it seems that Caterina got one thing right--the party goers! Her perfect party people pitch in, providing food and plenty of pep to make the impromptu party the best ever. Kono's strength here is not in her well-worn plot but in her charmingly earnest little main character, who after all, only wants to make her friends feel fully welcome in the way she knows best, and her carefully crafted collage illustrations, which incorporate photos, feathers, embroidery floss, fabric, and whatever the wind blows in, do make readers feel pictorially pampered. For a party-perfect pair, match this one with Karma Wilson's jolly party tale, Bear Says Thanks, (see review here) or another story of a perfectionist party-giver, Sarah Dillard's Perfectly Arugula (see my review here). Party down, everyone!