cover image Happy Birthday, Poco Loco!

Happy Birthday, Poco Loco!

J.R. Krause and Maria Chua. Amazon/Two Lions, $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4778-2638-6

In Krause and Chua’s follow-up to Poco Loco (2013), the eponymous, disaster-prone ratón uses his birthday fiesta to show off his latest invention: the Cake-Baking Bunk Bed. What could go wrong? For starters, Robo-Vacuum, Poco Loco’s robotic vacuum cleaner, begins devouring cake after cake, overloading the machine: “Robo-Vacuum adds mucho más leche, harina, azúcar, and huevos. It cranks the power to máximo.” As the house is drenched in a torrent of pink frosting, Poco Loco attempts to locate his missing friends. The characters speak in an organic hybrid of Spanish and English (a glossary, with pronunciations, appears at the front of the book), and the in-your-face digital artwork makes the most of the unabashedly silly story line. Ages 3–7. Agent: Jennifer Mattson, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Apr.)