Hurricane Henrietta: 8

In Johnson and Neibart's first children's book, Henrietta Harrison isn't having a bad hair day so much as a bad hair life. Her uncut locks begin to dominate her town of Bald Eagle Falls, both literally and figuratively. While the attention flatters her at first (at school, for instance, the kindergartners beg to play in her mane, because it's ""more fun than the jungle gym""), things get out of hand as her billowing hairdo swallows up everything from yo-yos to her brother's guinea pig, and sends friends and neighbors scurrying for cover. Still, Henrietta holds out, sleeping with her hair ""curled around her like a nest"" and enduring a trip through the car wash for a shampoo. But when her summer camp plans are threatened (""You'll come home with birds and squirrels nesting around your ears,"" warns her mother), Henrietta finally submits to the shears. Visually, bedlam also breaks loose in Neibart's pencil and watercolor illustrations, comprising caricatures that mirror the wild exaggerations of the text. While author and artist score some comic points in this exceedingly tall tale, readers may eventually tire of what boils down to one lengthy joke. Ages 4-8. (June)