The illustrations are absolutely charming!  I just wish the story lived up to the illustrations.  Mostly it’s about a bunch of sibling mice getting into one scrape and another before and after their sister’s wedding, and their mom being none too pleased about it.  It reads like a list of this one did that and that one did this, and it never seems to really lead anywhere or build to any kind of climax.

Somehow when I read this book, I picture Guido putting his kids to bed, and them begging Daddy to tell them a story, and this was what he came up with.  It’s just kinda silly and fun:  all around the world a bunch of large animals are in trouble of one kind and another, and somehow Super Ladybug finds out and comes to everyone’s rescue, with just the right tool for the job (except I personally think his “wonderful water tank” looked too small to do a decent job of refilling the camel’s humps).  Some kids will think it’s just the silliest thing. Who need why or how?

I think I need to stop selecting books by this publisher:  I seem to always find them a bit odd.  The illustrations in this one are beautiful, and perhaps the youngest readers will be content to look at the pictures and make up their own stories, but I doubt many of my students will enjoy the story.  I don’t know whether it’s because the story was originally written in another language, and something was lost in translation, or if it is a matter of cross-cultural disconnect in the accustomed manner of story-telling, but I found it long and rambling without much of a story arc to follow.

I love the bright, vivid, folk-art illustrations, but the story falls flat.  It basically takes a whole lot of words to tell the reader that this guy had a bunch of troublesome goats that his wives wanted him to get rid of, but his kids wanted him to keep, and he took them to market to sell them, but kids kept whining, moms gave in, and when he returned he ended up with even more goats.  It tells us he was surprised to discover the extra goats, without ever telling us where they came from, and there’s not enough plot or character development for the reader to care about the goats.  Too many words to not really tell us much.

Though fans will enjoy the familiar character, and the story is definitely a common problem faced in expanding families (when the little princess is told about a pending addition to the family, she insists she only wants a sister, no matter how many times she is reminded it may turn out to be a brother), I personally find the little princess to be a bit annoying.  It’s fine, and if you need another new-baby-on-the-way book, it might fill a useful niche, but how many of those does a library really need?

It’s got a decent message it’s trying to get across: don’t get so wrapped up in the future that you miss the present.  But I had a hard time getting especially excited about either the plot or the illustrations — both seem a bit under-developed.  Stewart is a rather ugly little monster who is having a hard time waiting for his first camping trip, and he terrorizes his parents trying to speed up time, until he talks things over with a classmate who is dreading vacation because she’ll miss school; then they both agree to enjoy the present, and before he knew it he was camping.

Henry is a very tidy little pig who likes the comfort of knowing that everything is in its place.  To ensure a nice, tidy farm, Henry sets out to draw a map of all the animals in the farmyard.  As he ventures around the farm, explaining what he’s doing, all the other animals get so excited about being included that they start trailing around after Henry.  Once the map is completed, Henry leads all of his companions to the top of a hill so he can show them how the map represents the farm, only to be dismayed to find the animals are no longer where the map indicates, and they must all scurry around and return order.

Another nearly wordless tale told almost exclusively through the artwork of David Wiesner — a great tool for pre-readers to begin reading pictures, and likewise as a writing prompt for older students.  Mr. Wuffles is a house cat, with a multitude of store-bought toys in which he seems to show little interest, but as the page zooms, we see that amidst these toys is a small alien spaceship, inhabited by tiny green people.  As Mr. Wuffles starts batting this new “toy,” the tiny aliens are sent for quite a tumble and and apparently important part of their vessel is damaged. Along their quest to find replacement parts for their ship, the little green people make the acquaintance, and gain the assistance, of the household insects who must also hide from Mr. Wuffles.

Though the audience may be limited to the youngest students, and the story consists of only three sentences, describing a snail’s journey, the illustrations are simply gorgeous, and it serves multiple purposes, from launching a discussion about perspective, to finding prepositions and adjectives.  Highly Recommended!

Young Dodo is out on a walk with Mom, but he seems to run into one problem after another, from his singing waking up the baby chicks, to collecting rocks that aren’t really rocks, to making friends with a skunk.  He bravely powers through all catastrophes and is rewarded with a beautiful vista when he and Mom make it to their destination.  Unfortunately one last problem awaits him when he finds the day has worn him out too much to walk home again.  The illustrations are cheerful and inviting and young readers will enjoy commiserating with someone else getting into scrapes they could probably imagine for themselves.