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Yolen and Teague, whose How Do Dinosaurs ... ? books are becoming a popular series, begin with a catalog of mealtime malefactions that unfortunately will be familiar, at least in part, to any parent. Belches and makes rude noises. Fidgets and squirms in his chair. Bubbles his milk. Sticks beans up his nose. But the question mark is crucial. The authors answer the question of whether a dinosaur really eats this way by saying no, then showing a sequence of model dino decorum at the table: calm, polite and cheerful. "He never drops anything/ Onto the floor./ And after he's finished,/ He asks for some more." Whichever style young readers are tempted to emulate (you get one guess), they will be entertained by Yolen's neatly rhymed text and Teague's vividly delineated dino species--protoceratops, spinosaurus, quetzalcoatlus and so on, which are all shown again on the endpapers for handy reference. And for maximum portability, the book comes with a mini-paperback duplicate that will easily fit into tiny pockets.
Blue Sky Press/ Scholastic; $15.99
An Undone Fairy Tale
By Ian Lendler. Illustrated by Whitney Martin
Postmodernism comes to kid lit! But to children it will seem more like good subversive fun. The conceit is that the book's illustrator, Ned--who is often depicted hard at work--can't paint fast enough to stay ahead of the reader. So a cartoon stand-in for Lendler keeps turning up to urge the reader to slow down for Ned's sake and to please, please not turn the page yet. Now, what youngster can resist defying such a request? The narrative, a standard knight-rescuing-an-imprisoned-princess tale, unravels ridiculously as the overwhelmed Ned is forced to improvise. Tutus are substituted for missing armor, a giant pretzel replaces a dragon, and the hero falls through a hole in a half-drawn floor. Ultimately Ned quits, and a desperate Lendler runs out of the letter e as his book comes to th nd.
Simon & Schuster; $15.95
The Great Blue House By Kate Banks Pictures by Georg Hallensleben
It often seems that loud is every child's middle name, but this lovely book should tame the rowdiest tyke by dwelling on sound, not noise. The blue house is a summer place that, after the season ends and the suitcases bang closed and the car doors slam shut, falls silent. Or does it? Banks' poetic text and Hallensleben's richly impastoed paintings guide us through the deserted rooms, evoking the dripping of a kitchen faucet, the buckling and crackling of frost on the windows, the ruffling of a cat shaking snowflakes from its fur, even the silence of a bird sitting on its nest in the loft. At length the patter of rain heralds spring, and soon children's shouts and the clump of feet on the back stairs start another season. At the same time a secondary theme blossoms. Not only does the house return to life, but also a new cycle of nature begins. Again, the sounds tell the story: "Kittens are meowing. Fledglings are chirping. And a new baby cries. Summer has returned to the great blue house."
Farrar, Straus & Giroux; $16 DON'T BE SILLY, MRS. MILLIE! By Judy Cox Illustrated by Joe Mathieu