Perfect Piggies
By Sandra Boynton
Workman Publishing, $6.95, ages 0–4
A new Boynton book is always a delight. Heck, a stack of old, lovingly chewed up, favorite Boynton books is a delight. The latest in the Boynton on Board series — so exactly the right size for little hands — is Perfect Piggies. It’s hummable and diaper-danceable (download a copy of the song at Boynton.com or make up your own tune) and celebrates what’s perfect about every little baby and toddler. While it doesn’t quite rise to the lyrical heights of Barnyard Dance and Hippos Go Berserk, Piggies is bound to become another Boynton favorite.
Scare a Bear
By Kathy-jo Wargin
Sleeping Bear Press, $15.95, ages 3–6
Kids will giggle all the way through the rolling rhymes in the latest from prolific Minnesota writer Kathy-jo Wargin. Maybe they’ll even add their own suggestions as you read along: How would you scare away a bear who’s decided to stick around and enjoy himself at your summer camp? Would you bang pots and pans? Would you rattle cans? Would you just say, “Boo”?
Willoughby and the Moon
By Greg Foley,
Harper Collins Children’s, $18.99, ages 4–7
It’s the remarkable illustrations that make Willoughby and the Moon (a follow-up to Willoughby and the Lion) something special. Printed in black and silver ink, with details kids can lose themselves in, it’s a truly beautiful book. The story meanders in a gentle, child-appropriate shaggy-dog way, making it a quiet and relaxing bedtime read, rather than a get-up-and-move romp.
Animal Rescue Team: Gator on the Loose
By Sue Stauffacher
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, $12.99, ages 6–10
The energetic Carter family rescues all kinds of animals. When a call comes in to Carter’s Urban Rescue, the whole family springs into action, from spunky Keisha to Mama, Daddy, Grandma, and even little Razi. This time an alligator has turned up in the community pool and the family has to capture it and find it a suitable home. The text can be a bit didactic at times — “Razi, did you know that a baby alligator can grow about a foot a year?” — but the young chapter book reader in our house doesn’t mind a lesson or two in her fiction in the least.
Lawn Boy
By Gary Paulsen
Wendy Lamb Books, $14.99, ages 9–12
What a wild ride. In the first Lawn Boy book, our 12-year-old narrator turns his lawn-mowing business into a financial empire worth half a million dollars. Now he’s finding out that with money and fame come problems — in the form of a retinue of business associates, a shifty cousin named Zed, a mafia-connected prizefighter named Joey Pow, and, oh yeah, his folks will be home any minute now. This is a fast-moving story, tightly told, with just enough references to the grown-up world of finance and commerce to keep curious kids on their toes.
