cover image Sunny Side Up

Sunny Side Up

Valiska Gregory. Four Winds Press, $8.95 (24pp) ISBN 978-0-02-738050-7

Each of these little gems is a Mr. Poggle and Scamp Book, and lucky is the reader who happens upon them. In Sunny Side Up, Mr. Poggle has Scamp all excited about their breakfast of eggs (sunny side up), toast and fresh orange juice. Then Scampthat rascalbreaks the yolk on the eggs. Mr. Poggle shrugs it off: ""They are yummy side scrambled, instead.'' Burned toast becomes an offering for the birds. And forgetting to squeeze the oranges gives them the perfect excuse to drink milk. In Terribly Wonderful, Scamp wakes up with a cold``I think I am sick,'' he whispers. ``I feel like a dead frog.'' They search for Scamp's lost voiceunder a chair and behind a sofa. Scamp goes back to bed, where he has books, hot lemon tea and a stack of paper airplanes. ``If you need me,'' Mr. Poggle tells him, ``You can fly messages into the kitchen.'' Gregory's lilting text and Bassett's airy watercolors elevate warm camaraderie to heights of unqualified love. (3-5)