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(3)
K-3
Illustrated by
John Martz.
It sounds easy enough: "STEP ONE / Fill the bathtub with warm water." But nothing goes right for the girl demonstrating how to bathe her cat: the tub overflows ("OOPS!"), the cat runs away, etc. On it goes until, in a hilarious rebuke to the book's premise, the cat demonstrates one-step self-cleaning. Martz's tidy illustrations foreground each disaster's slapstick essence.
(4)
K-3
Illustrated by
Matt James.
After a storm, a bed floats out to sea, happy to be rid of the smelly, snoring pirate who owned it. But soon the bed starts to miss having someone sleep in it and washes ashore; after it finds a grateful new owner, the bed's "happiness finally returned." The dreamlike story borders on wordy, but James's textured acrylic-paint and ink illustrations add visual interest.
32 pp.
| Kids Can
| February, 2011
|
TradeISBN 978-1-55337-821-1$16.95
(4)
K-3
Illustrated by
Janice Nadeau.
In this pretty, parent-centered book Miriam, a baker, entices Sebastian with the aroma of her signature cinnamon bread. The two marry and have a child; all is perfect until the baby starts crying incessantly. It's finally a "cinnamony smell" that soothes the tot (sleep-deprived caregivers may roll their eyes). Nadeau's warm-hearted mixed-media illustrations of the multiracial family are endearing.