Duck and Cover
PreSchool-Grade 2&mdash;Irene, the patient host to a menagerie of quirky animals, finds a new visitor at her door in this follow-up toDuck at the Door(2007) andDuck Soup(2008, both HarperCollins). Her visitor is Harold, an alligator on the lam from the zoo detectives. His crime? "I just had a snack! Okay, so it was someone's pet. I didn't know that!" Max the duck puts aside his fears of being eaten and convinces everyone to take Harold in. Sure enough, he has a large appetite, though he seems happy with the gang's culinary offerings. Eventually the zoo detectives show up at Irene's door, but Harold is off the hook. "The dog we thought Harold ate wasn't the girl's PET DOG. It was her HOT DOG." The charming watercolors will give audiences plenty to look at as these expressive creatures search the house for an alligator-sized hiding place and plot to save their new guest. The animals are clearly the movers and shakers in this household, and Urbanovic has done a fine job of rendering each one with clever humanlike postures and expressions. Readers will be especially tickled by the illustration of a room full of animals all dressed in homemade alligator costumes. With a comedic story and strong visuals,Duck and Coveris sure to please.&mdash;Jayne Damron, Farmington Community Library, MICopyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.