Getting the Last Laugh! Poppleton Every Day by Cynthia Rylant

Poppleton Pig lives a varied life.

One night he's happily roasting marshmallows before a roaring fire with his mouse friend Hudson, when his friend suggests they go outside for some stargazing. The hugeness of the sky and multitude of stars make Poppleton feel seasick. But his little rodent buddy has a solution. He cuts a tiny hole in Poppleton's blanket and has him look through it at one star at a time. Problem solved.

Another day has Poppleton deciding that he's outgrown his childhood bed, so he betakes himself to the Big Bed Store to find a grown-up bed. The saleslady shows Poppleton her very biggest bed to try out. Poppleton tries it many ways--on his back, on his side, with one leg dangling off, both legs dangling, with his bottom in the air.

"How many ways do you sleep?" she asks, glancing at her watch."About twenty," says Poppleton.

He asks for a book and tries out the bed for reading. The saleslady inquires if he likes the bed. But Poppleton has another request.

"Do you have any crackers?"

The bed and crackers go well together and the saleslady moves in to make the sale, glancing pointedly at her watch.

""Do you want to buy the bed?"

"I don't know yet," said Poppleton. "Do you have a TV?"

The saleslady produces a TV and he tries it out on the bed. The saleslady nervously checks her watch. But Poppleton has another request.

"Do you have any bluebirds? I always wake up to bluebirds." Poppleton inquires.

Will the dutiful saleslady nail the sale?

On another day Poppleton is invited to go for a sail with his friend Fillmore. Poppleton is a bit wary, but Fillmore tells him to relax. Poppleton tries, but the the boat suddenly begins to lean very far over to the right. Poppleton is not feeling relaxed. The the sailboat begins to bounce up and down wildly over the waves.

"I am NOT relaxed!" Poppleton reports.

Poppleton is not a bit relaxed when the boat flips over either. Poppleton and Fillmore hit the briny and have to swim to the overturned sailboat. Poppleton is ...

Definitely Not Relaxed!

But finally back on shore, Fillmore pooh poohs Poppleton's fears and suggests he focus on the fun. Poppleton replies that not all of their sail was fun, especially the part in the water with the shark.

"SHARK????" Fillmore runs screaming down the road.

"RELAX!" Poppleton calls after him.

Celebrated author Cynthia Rylant is the perfect master of drollery, and nowhere is that quality more evident than in her Poppleton Every Day: An Acorn Book (Scholastic Books, 2020), illustrated with his usual attention-to-detail aplomb by the award-winning artist Mark Teague. The unflappable (even when not relaxed) Poppleton at his most droll never fails to amuse, and this one offers young readers a Level 2 beginning reader "chapter book" to read alone as well. Other definitely droll beginning reader stories are Rylant's Henry And Mudge First Book and Mr. Putter and Tabby Box Set of 6 ; Level 2 Readers.

I Gotta Be ME! Norbert's Big Dream by Lori Degman

NORBERT WAS A PIG WITH A DREAM.

Even as a piglet, Norbert was not into the usual porcine  preferences--slurping slop, snoozing in the sun, or mucking in the mud.

NORBERT DREAMED OF SWIMMING THE ENGLISH CHANNEL.

Eschewing swill, he beefed up on body-building foods. When other pigs wallowed in the mud, Norbert grabbed his kickboard, jumped in, and worked on his flutter kick. He trained all day and dreamed all night of being the first porker to swim the Channel.

At last Norbert's training peaked!

"I'M OFF TO SWIM THE ENGLISH CHANNEL!"

To the amazement of his lazy, layabout litter mates, Norbert squeezed into his sleek swimsuit, snapped on his goggles, and forced his trotters into his flippers. He was ready to hit the cold waters of the English Channel.

"WHICH WAY IS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL?"

Suddenly Norbert realizes that he hasn't a clue! He looked over the barnyard wall, behind the barn, beyond the trees.

Norbert's dream was a bust. Then he noticed his friends bustling about a sign.

[NORBERT'S CHANNEL]

And following the sign Norbert found a large body of water he'd never noticed and dived right in! Norbert was living his dream as he splashed, to the roar of the crowd, all the way to the far shore.

With great relief his porcine friends went back to their usual routines--slop, snore, wallow... REPEAT! But Norbert was made of sterner stuff....

And in Lori Degman's Norbert's Big Dream (Sleeping Bear Press), Norbert already has a new dream of being the first pig to plant his flag on the highest peak! And as we know, Degman's heroic pig goes whole-hog when he has a goal.

In comedic robust-style, artist Marco Bucci portrays Norbert in heroic acrylic paintings which reveal his dedication to his dreams. Says Publishers Weekly, "Using bright, thick, painterly swaths of color, Bucci brings Degman's underpig hero to vibrant life!"

Other humorous animal stories by Lori Degman are 1 Zany Zoo and Cock-a-Doodle-Oops!

Side by Sidekick! Thunder Pug by Kim Norman

Percy was a pug and Petunia was a pig.

Even so, they loved doing many of the same things.

Percy and Petunia are pals who pair up to play every day.

Of course, they pursue separate activities, too. Pug chomps bones, and Petunia prefers vegetarian provender. But they get together at dusk to play hide-and-seek and lap at puddles, jowl to cheek.

But then Petunia goes off to be shown at the County Fair and comes back a celebrity ...

... wearing a blue ribbon!

Percy is displaced by Petunia's admirers. The animals cheer and parade her around the place on their shoulders. Pug can't even get close enough to give her a high-five.

And she wears that blasted blue ribbon everywhere she goes!

Pug is suddenly a person of no importance to Petunia. He's got to find a way to up his game. And then he spots a discarded comic book about a dashing, daring caped crusader.

Percy the Pug picks up a pig chow sack and and converts it into a superhero cape, and VOILA!

THUNDER PUG TO THE RESCUE!

Percy Thunder Pug leaps to rescue baby chicks from stinky skunks and bathing baby birds from deep puddles. It's fun, but there's still something missing from his super persona.

What this superhero needs is--a sidekick!

And suddenly, there she is, Petunia the Super Star, in blue ribbon and... cape!

PINK LIGHTNING!

Superhero and sidekick pair up to do daring good deeds... and together they are ...

THUNDERFUL!

Pug and Pig are a new dynamic duo in Kim Norman's latest in series, Thunder Pug (Sterling Children's Books, 2019), a sweet story which affirms the way that friendships can be reborn through changes in fame and fortune. Author Norman's narration flows with spot-on text, and Keika Yamaguchi's artwork is perfect for Norman's characters, with soft digital watercolors and page design that places the illustrations in spot art, in full-bleed single-page style, and humorous action which flows over double page spreads as both characters come together. A solid theme of independence and togetherness that soars!

Pair this one with Norman and Yamaguchi's first collaboration in this series, Puddle Pug.

Pigtale! Piggy by Trevor Lai

There once was a pig who loved to read. Piggy read day and night at the library.

His favorite stories were about friends who learn to play together.

But Piggy was too busy reading to make friends.

And when Piggy notices that he's down to his last book, he also realizes that there is a disconnect between his reading about friends and actually having a friend. He decides to find a friend to share that book with and sets out on a quest to find a like-minded companion. His first attempts at making friends are a bust, but finally he spots a pretty little cat-girl whose cute whiskers are buried in a book. She is clearly as big a bibliophile as he is--maybe more, since she keeps right on turning pages and pays no attention as he approaches her. It looks like a match made in heaven, if only Piggy can catch her glance.

Piggy pulls out all the stops, as he fires up his little red airplane and buzzes her as she reads. He tries towing a sign behind his plane that says CAN WE BE FRIENDS? He proffers flowers. Oblivious, she just continues turning pages.

Then Piggy notices something: the little cat-girl is squinting at the pages. Gallantly, he offers her his last book and his big red glasses!

A friend with a good read is a friend indeed, in Trevor Lai's first picture book outing with his animated character, Piggy (Bloomsbury Press, 2017). Besides being as cute as a pig has any right to be, Piggy is apparently already a star of the emoji-verse, and this lighthearted and lightweight debut into print is charming, sure to find friends during Book Week storytimes across the land.

For a story about some readers whose problem is not being noticed reading, share this one with Eileen Christelow's wonderful Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed (A Five Little Monkeys Story), reviewed here.

Porcine Espionage! Olivia The Spy by Ian Falconer

ONE AFTERNOON OLIVIA HEARD HER MOTHER TALKING TO HER AUNT.

"I HAD JUST FINISHED CLEANING THE KITCHEN WHEN OLIVIA DECIDED TO MAKE HERSELF A SMOOTHIE--A BLUEBERRY SMOOTHIE," HER MOTHER WAS SAYING.

Olivia remembers that episode all too well. Her mother warned her not to fill the container all the way to the top and Olivia had responded with a smart-alecky comeback.

"MOMMY, I KNOW HOW TO USE THE BLENDER!"

RRRRRR! SPLAT! SPLAT! There goes Mommy's clean kitchen!

But when Mommy tries to give her some advice about loading the washing machine, she gets the same line.

"I KNOW HOW TO USE THE WASHING MACHINE."

Uh-huh. Daddy's white underwear is washed with Olivia's socks and comes out pink. Experience keeps a dear school, as Ben Franklin said, but Olivia refuses to learn to listen to Mommy.

That's when Olivia's covert eavesdropping on Mommy's conversation brings her up short.

"OH, I WISH THERE WAS SOME PLACE I COULD SEND HER UNTIL SHE LEARNS SOME SENSE," MOMMY LAMENTS, "LIKE A MILITARY SCHOOL..."

Olivia's supersized ears stand straight up! What is Mommy planning? Olivia instantly goes into secret agent mode, sneakily listening in at keyholes, disguising herself under a lampshade and camouflaging herself as a zebra rug, even poking her snout out of a mousehole to listen in on her parents. And what she hears puts her on red alert. A military school? An institution? Is Mommy really considering incarceration for her wayward daughter?

And then Olivia overhears something that pins her overactive ears back.

"OH, THAT'S THE PERFECT PLACE TO TAKE HER!" DADDY IS SAYING.

Is Olivia headed for the hoosegow? Sadly she begins packing, expecting to be sent packing to boarding school, or worse, prison, in Ian Falconer's new book, Olivia the Spy (Atheneum Press, 2017), filled with Falconer's trademark artwork, dark charcoaled outlines filled with contrastingly bright colors set, spot-art style, against white pages, showing off his character's silly surveillance capers in illustrations that will keep readers giggling, right down to what Olivia fears is her long last ride to the lockup.

Olivia is back, after her long and various stay in the easy reader/paperback genre, still her famously self-absorbed self in this new, full-format picture book. As usual, it's all about her, as her intensive spell of surveillance causes a misunderstanding that gives Olivia a well-earned comeuppance, followed by a happy ending arranged by her long-suffering but kind parents, but one with Olivia still up to her usual tricks. In a final, unforeseen twist, Falconer gives his readers the last laugh at his self-important pig. As Kirkus Reviews puts it piquantly, "That irrepressible porker is back." Yay!