Mine! Frankie by Mary Sullivan

With no blankie, no toys, no nothing, a squatty pooch with absurdly big ears waits hopefully in a cage at the dog shelter.

Well, she has a name, but she doesn't know it. There is a sign on her door.

Francine

"Frankie"

ABM A23360 154

And then a woman's hands open the door and reach out to her, with a word.

"Frankie!"

Is that her name? In the car, with her ears blowing back in the breeze from the window, she asks herself, Is that who I am?

In the house she asks herself a another big question:

"Frankie's home?"

But there's already a dog there, a portly brown dachshund--Nico. And Nico has a different idea.

"Nico's home."

Nico thinks of himself as the big dog, the only dog, of the house.

Frankie spots a polka-dot red ball. Could that be her ball?

Nope. Nico grabs it. It's his ball. Ditto for the chew bone, the toy dog, the chew rope, the green blankie, which Nico snatches out from under her, and the monogrammed dog bed, in which he sprawls out regally.

No Way!

Frankie quickly figures out the law according to Nico. It's ALL Nico's stuff!

But Frankie has her own ideas. She'll get her own stuff. She gets busy, rounding up a ball (of yarn), a bone (a toilet paper tube from the wastebasket), a toy (a plush shark from a child's bed), plus a sock for a chewie rope, a washcloth for a blankie, and a cardboard box for a dog bed. Frankie plops down in her "bed" surrounded by her STUFF! Nico gives her a baleful look as he carefully flaunts his own possessions spread all around his bed.

And then Frankie hears something beautiful. It's the woman, calling her name!

And what does she find? Brand-new stuff (with her name on each item)--a ball, a chewie stick, a bone, a blankie and bed, a doggie toy, and a wonderful squeaky green frog! Frankie's in dog heaven, toting everything off to her very own bed!

But Nico's clearly got his eye on Frankie's new green frog....

There's a surprising but satisfying bit of canine negotiation in the Geisel Award-winning Mary Sullivan's forthcoming dog story, Frankie (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017). Sullivan's charming narration, is told chiefly through short and snappy thought balloons and winsome illustrations of the stolid and spoiled only dog and a hopeful and perky rescue pup working out their disputed doggie territory in one household, and how they do it makes for an amusing and heartwarming story of give and take. Her illustrations portray the comedy and pathos of Frankie's determination to make her own place in a world that hasn't always wanted her.

Sullivan rightly keeps the visual focus on the interplay between the two dogs in endearingly drawn comic characterizations that capture their personalities perfectly. While the back of Sullivan's dust cover features a photo of the "real" shelter dog Frankie, her endpapers show an assemblage of pet shelter residents--cats Fluffly, Orange Jello, and Miss Kitty and dogs Broccoli, Shamrock, and the rest, for which young readers may want to create their own adoption stories. A perfect first choice for primary collections and pet lovers alike.

One Word Says It All! Treat by Mary Sullivan

TREAT...?

The story opens with a rather stout pug-ish dog, snoozing soundly and, judging from the hazy thought balloon drifting above his head, dreaming of a large cone of soft-serve ice cream. But the tendrils of an actual enticing scent from the other room reach his sensitive olfactory system, and, bingo--

treat?

In a nano-second the plump pooch goes into beg-mode beside a toddler chowing down on  choco-puffs lined up on her little toy table. One paw raised beguilingly, the dog tries to elicit his treat, only to watch the tot insensitively chunk down the last one.  His thought balloon vanishes in mid-word.

T R E.....

Grrrrr! But there are still more family members to pester for a handout.

Big Sister kneels in front of a breakfast tray upon which lies an intact hotdog. Our mutt tries a trick. He rolls over. He eyeballs the hot dog suggestively. Sis ignores his plea and slams down the hotdog in two bites.

Pooch moves on to Brother, busy with crayons, who quickly sketches a self-portrait and offers it to his pet for approval. With a look on his face that says "Totally clueless," the pooch stomps off.

TREAT.

Grandma is still snoring in her bed, her fairly disgusting false teeth in a glass nearby. Grandpa is brushing his teeth.The baby in his crib has thoughtlessly left his bottle too far away for the pup's stubby paws to reach.

And then he hears a siren call from the laundry room, that one word he longs to hear, and scrabbles toward it with but one thought on his mind....

treattreattreattreattreattreattreattreat....!

... only to find the grinning toddler's toy shark in his food bowl. Everybody's a comedian! he sulks.

Our plump pooch throws himself on the waiting pile of dirty laundry and begins a nap, a nap which brings on a hungry hound's worst nightmare.... He circles inside the washing machine as it floats in space.... He pursues an ice cream truck which turns out to be manned by giant sharks.... He is chased by giant false teeth who seem to believe that he's the treat!

What's a guy got to do to get a bite to eat around here?

Even the most loyal of dog lovers will admit that food probably rates higher on their pooch's love list than anything else, and this chubby-cheeked, big-bellied mutt has "FEED ME!" written all over him.

Having documented the ball-obsessed dog in her Theodor Seuss Geisel-Award-winning Ball, Mary Sullivan takes over that other canine obsession, (I'll have whatever you're having!), in her forthcoming Treat (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), a real treat for dog fanciers, emergent readers, and adult and beginning readers who love a big, fat, juicy read-aloud book with plenty of room for gusto.

Sullivan's fun and funny colored-pencil illustrations are set against inspired page design, using thought bubbles (some shaped like Valentines and a chomped-into shark) and evocative font design to reveal exactly the one big thing on our portly pup's mind. Punctuation plays a big part in the storytelling, with periods, question marks, and multiple exclamation marks revealing the snack-obsessed canine's emotions, providing a little writing lesson along with a story which is good right down to the last bite.  Sullivan's latest  picture book ends with a most satisfying surprise for our paunchy pooch--and a totally satisfying treat for young readers.

Missing Person Mission: Duck Duck Moose by Mary Sullivan

It's a serene morning on the farm until as frantic girl races up with a disturbing query--

WHERE IS GOOSE?

Oh, dear! Moose takes charge! The tractor is still attached to its trailer, perfect for a missing person search...

GET BIG MOE!

Big Moe is cranked with amid some clunks and pows as Duck and Duck and Moose climb into the trailer and the girl takes the wheel, all with one mission, to find Goose immediately. Bucolic bystanders, Horse and Sheep, point the way they saw Goose go. But soon there's an obstacle--the gate is locked and the key is hanging on the tree, way up there. Leaps and flapping attempts to reach it fail, so Moose tries a totem pole arrangement, with the two ducks on top of each other on top of his head. The top duck stretches high into the tree and ...

BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ!

A swarm of hornets bring them all crashing down in the mud.

THONK! WHACK! STING! STANG! STUNG!

Mission aborted. After soaking in a bubbly bath, the three call it a day, and plastered with bandaids, Goose, Goose, and Moose repair to bed, still sad and without the mysteriously missing Goose.

The Caldecott-winning author-illustrator Mary Sullivan's latest, Duck, Duck, Moose (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021) is a beginning reader full of merry mayhem with onomatopoeic words and obvious affection for the muddled characters' missing friend (who, in the conclusion, shows up with beach bag, surfboard, and a mystified expression at her reception). With controlled vocabulary, visual cues, and plenty of repeated words and phrases, this slapstick story is filled with action and humor, perfect for early readers.

Sullivan's literary output is filled with delightfully humorous picture books that charm young listeners as readalongs, readalouds, or beginning readers: Ball, Treat, Up On Bob, Frankie, and Nobody's Duck. (See reviews here).

Artful Duplicity: The Van Gogh Deception by Deron Hicks

The boy appeared out of nowhere.

The room was filled with famous paintings and sculptures. The boy didn't seem to notice, a blank expression on his face.

A tall, while-haired man sat down next to the boy. "It's closing time, pal. We need to find your parents. My name's Ken. I'm a decent in the museum. I help people."

Turned over to the Washington, D.C., police, the boy is placed for the night with a temporary foster parent, Mary Sullivan, with little information except that he seems to be suffering from some sort of truama causing dissociative amnesia. When her ten-year-old daughter Camille sees the name "Arthur" inside his jacket, she decides to call him Art. The next day Mary takes Art and Camille back to the National Gallery of Art in the hopes that something there will induce some memories that will lead to Art's parents.

At the museum Art soon realizes that he knows all about most of the paintings. But then, with instructions to the two to stay put, Mary leaves them in the museum cafe to go to the restroom. Art pulls out the contents of one pocket of his jacket, a square of black plastic with a few numbers and letters. As he puzzles over it, he notices a woman at the next table pull a similar square out of her purse and pass it to her husband, telling him to bring up her jacket from the coat check room.

Art jumps up and follows the man, and Camille trails after him down a hall and some stairs to the Check Room. Art hands the plastic square over to the clerk, who retrieves a backpack, with the nametag Art H. clipped to it. Art and Camille realize that the bag may reveal his identity.

Art had been so excited to discover that his name really was Art that he had forgotten to look inside the backpack. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Camille said.

He pulled out a baseball cap--well-worn, dark blue cap with the initials NY on the front. It fit perfectly. He pulled out a can of Coke. "I prefer Coke Zero. All the flavor, none of the sugar," said Camille. "Check the front pocket." Art opened the front pouch. The contents spilled out onto the bench.

"Holy cow," Camille exclaimed. On top of a pile of stuff was a wad of bills. She counted them. "This is more than four hundred dollars! What else?"

"A receipt. From a coffeehouse." said Art. Only two items remained--a brass key and a small piece of white plastic the size of a credit card with a series of embossed numbers.

But hidden within a rip in the main compartment, Art finds a an old leather journal. Inside on a yellowed page marked by a sticky note, he spots an inscription in French, which he realizes he can read, just as he had discovered that he somehow knows the history of many of the paintings they had seen in the museum. Beside the inscription, there is a sketch of the back of a painting in the shape of a spider. "Une Ariagnee'" he reads. Suddenly he feels a need to hide the journal back inside the lining of his backpack. Just then, Camille whispers that a man is staring at them while talking rapidly on his cell phone.

"Let's head back to the Cafe," said Art hurriedly.

"Too late," Camille mutters. "He's..."

A tall man was standing directly in front of them. "Are you Camille Sullivan," he asked.

And we're off, in a rip-roaring, page turner of a thriller, as Camille and Art are soon on the run from a ruthless gang of art forgers who believe Art holds the only link to their plan to sell a faked painting, supposedly stolen by the Nazis and hidden away in a vault, the long-sought The Park at Arles with the Entrance See Through the Trees by Vincent Van Gogh, about to be sold to the National Gallery for almost two million dollars. It's Art's inside knowledge of the secrets of the National Gallery of Art that finally bring the forgers back full circle to the Gallery for the final showdown.

Deron Hicks' forthcoming The Van Gogh Deception (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017) is a mystery crime story impossible to put down. Hicks builds suspense masterfully as he switches back and forth between the forgery gang and the two bright and fleet-footed kids on the run through downtown Washington, as one by one the contents of that backpack lead the two, clue by clue, concluding in a secret passage in the National Gallery of Art at midnight, and the final showdown with hundreds of millions of dollars and Art's father's life on the line.

This one is a worthy successor to those noted art mysteries of Newbery fame, Blue Balliett's Chasing Vermeer and E. L. Konigsberg's  From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. and a killer-diller of a middle reader suspense story with two bright tweeners who manage to outwit world-class art thieves in what Kirkus Reviews calls "A suspenseful mystery romp with art appreciation and heartening trust in readers' intelligence."  

It's a Hard Job, But Someone's Got to Do It! Up On Bob by Mary Sullivan

It's naptime for Bob the wiener dog.

In the quiet bedroom the bed is made up neatly, with two bedtime toys neatly side-by-side on the pillow. There's a lot of work to do to get it ready for the nap. But that's okay with Bob.

BOB LIKES HARD WORK.

Bob is on the job. The lovey toys get the deep six--overboard. The bedtime book and lamp likewise.

Hard work is Bob's middle name. He pokes his pointy nose under the coverlet and roots around until he can crawl under it, his head on the freshly plumped pillow, ready to sleep the day away.

But Bob can't sleep. He senses that he's being watched.

SOMEONE.

Someone's white paws, pink ears, and whiskers appear beside the bed. Oh, no! Bob does not need a bed buddy!

Bob feigns deep sleep, his eyes resolutely closed, willing the nap interloper to disappear. And she does--momentarily. But then--

POUNCE!

Bob's ruse is no use. Someone walks on Bob. Someone kneads his head and licks his ear! Someone gives Bob a full-body massage. Someone else has a strong work ethic. And Someone's dedicated work...

... PAYS OFF!

It's a perfect catnapping place, pre-warmed, crafted to perfection, in Mary Ball's Up On Bob (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020). Is it a case of pet rivalry or a case of co-pet cooperation? Perhaps there's some of both, in the award-winning Mary Ball's latest.

Ball's funny page-by-page pacing and skilled but simple line and color endow both pets with ample personality as they make peace for the sake of the NAP, one goal they share. This is a great one for emergent readers, a sure pleaser for reading aloud, and even sleep-inducing for bedtime, a new picture book not to be missed.

What's In A Name? My Name is Wakawakaloch! by Chana Stiefel

"Wakawakaloch was in a volcanic mood.

Everyone is bungling her name.

"Walawala!"

"Wammabammasiamma!"

Lokamokacok!"

In every class--Sabertooth Safety Class, Boulder Rolling, even Club Club--her name is mangled.

Back at her cave, she complains.

Me changing my name to Gloop!"

Nobody says her name right, and for sure she'll never find a T-shirt with a name like Wakawakaloch on it!

Her family is dismayed. Wakawakaloch is a name that goes way back in their family. Pa thinks she's lost her pebbles and takes her for a consultation with Elder Mooch, the village's wisest Neanderthal.

Although Mooch smells like ripe mammoth poop, he gives her some good advice:

"My dear, you are forward thinker. You must be backwards seer, too."

And that night, as she tosses and turns on her polar bear skin, Wakawakaloch notices the carvings on the cave's wall, showing the brave and heroic acts of the great-great-great-great-great grandmother whose name is also hers. Awestruck, she places her hand on the print of her mighty ancestor. They match exactly!

Forget Gloop! With such a powerful name, she, too, can be great--beginning with creating T-shirts with everyone's name, in Chana Stiefel's brand-new My Name Is Wakawakaloch! (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019). This spoof of prehistoric name angst will give readers a giggle, but kids who have common names and those who have uncommon ones will be fascinated to learn that all names, even the most ordinary, have meanings--Mary means "beloved" and William means "willing protector!"

This humorous little story is a good way of opening up discussion of the conflict between fitting in and being yourself. There's a personalized T-shirt out there for all of us, and the Geisel Award-winning Mary Sullivan's comic faux-naif illustrations offer sight-gags that will give young readers plenty of reasons to chuckle and perhaps send them eagerly to a dictionary of names as well. This is a charming picture book that offers varied learning possibilities and deepens understandings of the power of a name.

Mine! Mine! Mine! Pig and Pug by Aaron Blabey

PIG WAS A PUG

AND I'M SORRY TO SAY,

HE WAS GREEDY AND SELFISH

IN MOST EVERY WAY.

Pig is a pug with a problem--two problems, really.

First, he has a personality problem; he is an overfed, self-centered dog who wants it ALL. He guards his doggy bowl of kibble like a dragon guards his hoard.

But second, Pig has a family problem. He is not an only dog. He shares the household with Trevor, an easy-going dachshund who wants his share of kibble and the dog toys Pig hoards. With a friendly grin, Trevor sociably tries to point out that Pug might have more fun if the two of them could play with the balls, chew bones, and squeaky toys together. But true to his name, Pig refuses to share.

He gathers their toys in a tipsy tower all together--

Then plops down atop them to snarl at poor Trevor.

"THERE!" SHOUTED PIG.

"YOU WON'T GET MY LOOT!

IT'S MINE! MINE! MINE!

SO WHY DON'T YOU SCOOT?"

But Pig's pride goes before his fall, as his excess of stuff topples and tips him right out the window. Pig survives his downfall, but not without some pain, and in true happy-ending style, seems to have learned his lesson, in Aaron Blabey's just-published Pig the Pug (Scholastic Press, 2016). Pugs are popular pets and popular protagonists in picture books these days, and in this little parable of pet cupidity, author-illustrator Blabey's bouncy quatrains and comic portrayal of a covetous canine who gets his comeuppance presses home his premise with a vengeance. Kids will appreciate Pig's well-deserved pratfall and perhaps get the message that sharing is caring--and safer, too!

Pair this one with another story of a pet pug who wants what he wants, in the Theodor Seuss Geisel-award-winning Mary Sullivan's Treat (see review here.)

... And the Winners Are... 2014 Newbery and Caldecott Medals Awarded

The American Library Association has released the winners of this year's young people's book awards. The Newbery Award, for books written for young readers, has gone to Kate DiCamillo for her novel Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures (Candlewick Press, 2013). (See my review here.) DiCamillo is a past winner of this award for her The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread and the Newbery Honor Award for Because of Winn-Dixie.

Four Newbery Honor Books were also named: Holly Black's Doll Bones (Simon & Schuster, 2013), previous winner Kevin Henkes' The Year of Billy Miller (Greenwillow Books, 2013) (see my review here), Amy Timberlake's One Came Home (Alfred A. Knopf, 2013), and Vince Vawter's Paperboy (Delacorte Press, 2013).

Taking the Caldecott Award for the best-illustrated book for children is Brian Floca for his Locomotive (Atheneum, 2013). Caldecott Honors went to  Journey (Candlewick, 2013), written and illustrated by Aaron Becker, to Molly Idle's Flora and the Flamingo (Chronicle Books, 2013), and the multiple Caldecott-winning David Wiesner for Mr. Wuffles! (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2013 (see my review here.)

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for beginning reader books went to The Watermelon Seed (Hyperion, 2013), written and illustrated by Greg Pizzoli (read my review here), with Geisel Honor Awards going to Mary Sullivan's Ball (Houghton Mifflin, 2013), frequent award-winner Mo Willems for his A Big Guy Took My Ball! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) (Hyperion, 2013) (see review here), and Kevin Henkes' Penny and Her Marble (I Can Read Book 1) (Greenwillow, 2013).

Other ALA awards include the following:

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:
“P.S. Be Eleven,” written by Rita Williams-Garcia, is the King Author Book winner. The book is published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Three King Author Honor Books were selected: “March: Book One,” written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated by Nate Powell, and published by Top Shelf Productions; “Darius & Twig,” written by Walter Dean Myers and published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; and “Words with Wings,” written by Nikki Grimes and published by WordSong, an imprint of Highlights.

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award:
“Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me,” illustrated by Bryan Collier, is the King Illustrator Book winner. The book was written by Daniel Beaty and published by Little, Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group.
One King Illustrator Honor Book was selected: “Nelson Mandela,” illustrated and written by Kadir Nelson and published by Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award:
“When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop,” illustrated by Theodore Taylor III, is the Steptoe winner. The book is published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership.

Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement:
Authors Patricia and Researcher Fredrick McKissack are the winners of the Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award is presented in even years to an African American author, illustrator or author/illustrator for a body of his or her published books for children and/or young adults, and who has made a significant and lasting literary contribution.
 Patricia McKissack and her late husband Fredrick McKissack, both natives of Tennessee, began their writing and research partnership in the 1980’s.Their subject matter from family-based folklore to nonfiction titles, are scholarly researched and written with accurate, authentic text, creating a cultural transmission of history. Their immense range of topics are informative, readable and enjoyable, covering accounts from slavery days to biographical studies of noted men and women in African American history past and present.

Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:
“Midwinterblood,” written by Marcus Sedgwick, is the 2014 Printz Award winner. The book is published by Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.
Four Printz Honor Books also were named: “Eleanor & Park,” written by Rainbow Rowell and published by St. Martin’s Griffin (Macmillan); “Kingdom of Little Wounds,” written by Susann Cokal and published by Candlewick Press; “Maggot Moon,” written by Sally Gardner, illustrated by Julian Crouch and published by Candlewick Press; and “Navigating Early,” written by Clare Vanderpool and published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House LLC, Penguin Random House Company.

Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience:
“A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin,” written by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet and published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc. wins the award for children ages 0 to 10.
“Handbook for Dragon Slayers,” written by Merrie Haskell and published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, is the winner of the middle-school (ages 11-13) award.
The teen (ages 13-18) award winner is “Rose under Fire,” written by Elizabeth Wein and published by Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group.

Alex Awards for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences:

 “Brewster,” written by Mark Slouka and published by W. W. Norton & Company

“The Death of Bees,” written by Lisa O’Donnell and published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

“Golden Boy: A Novel,” written by Abigail Tarttelin and published by ATRIA Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

“Help for the Haunted,” written by John Searles and published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

“Lexicon: A Novel,” written by Max Barry and published by The Penguin Group, Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

“Lives of Tao,” written by Wesley Chu and published by Angry Robot, a member of the Osprey Group

“Mother, Mother: A Novel,” written by Koren Zailckas and published by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

“Relish,” written by Lucy Knisley and published by First Second, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership

“The Sea of Tranquility: A Novel,” written by Katja Millay and published by ATRIA Paperback, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

“The Universe Versus Alex Woods,” written by Gavin Extence and published by Redhook Books, an imprint of Orbit, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's video:
Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard of Weston Woods Studios, Inc., producers of “Bink &Gollie: Two for One,” are the Carnegie Medal winners. The video’s cast is anchored by Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome, with music by David Mansfield. Tony Fucile’s artwork is brilliantly brought to life by Chuck Gammage Animation.

Follow the Bouncing Ball! OOPS POUNCE QUICK RUN! by Mike Twohy

ASLEEP.

A mouse snoozes safely in his cozy mouse hole.

What could happen, right?

But just outside that hole a dog is playing with his ball, which, (what are the odds?) bounces and rolls right through that mouse hole and lands in the lap of the no-longer snoozing, and now grumpy rodent. He kicks that ball back.

CATCH!

The DOG is intrigued and poke his nose right into the mouse hole for an investigatory sniff. He put one EYE to the hole for a peep inside. Aha! He shoves a FOOT through the hole. GRRR!

HELP! Mouse makes a run for it, right through Dog's legs, and Dog pursues the mouse through the kitchen and living room, where rugs scatter and a lamp falls.

Now where is that miserable mouse? He seems to be Nowhere! OOPS! What's that sticking out from under the drapes? A mouse tail? Time for a pounce!

The game is afoot!

It's a classic chase, a la Tom and Jerry cartoons, in Mike Twohy's 2017 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award-winning Oops, Pounce, Quick, Run!: An Alphabet Caper (Balzer and Bray), except that this cat and mouse game is a dog and mouse game and it occurs, educationally, in alphabetical order. But just as Jerry is never in real danger from Tom, this mouse also makes the right move, wrapping up the dog's beloved ball in gift wrap, and concluding amiably, with a doggy tail wag, shared XOXOs, and some ZZZZzzzs as Mouse resumes his nap along with Dog.

Author-illustrator Twohy's pen and marker artwork captures the rollicking frolic of the chase in true comic style, while youngsters get an unexpected romp through the alphabet as well. Good for tots just learning to recognize their letters and their sounds, and good for beginning readers who relish an amusing alphabet adventure in just twenty-six words, this one also has plenty of giggles built in for storytime. For read-alouds, pair this one with Mary Sullivan's equally enjoyable 2014 Geisel Award-winning Ball for a bouncy twofer read!