The Pickle-Chiffon Pie Olympics

Nearly 50 years after the publication of Pickle-Chiffon Pie, Bradfield returns with a boisterous sequel. After graduating from Princess College, Sierra declares that she wants to marry Prince Charminger, but the king decides that his daughter "can do much better than that." He announces a contest (named for the queen's famous pie), the winner of which will earn Sierra's hand. Incensed, the princess storms off to stay with her aunt. Bradfield's sense of humor is on full display in the raucous (if long-winded) descriptions of the competition: a horseshoe toss is "made more difficult by the fact that the shoes were still attached to the horse," and a bicycle race is "made harder by the fact that bicycles hadn't been invented yet." At their best, Bradfield's loose, playfully exaggerated pictures are suggestive of Quentin Blake's cartoons; the lack of color on some spreads, while intentional, nonetheless makes some scenes appear unfinished. A punchy finale upends, somewhat, the fairly conventional characterizations of a temper-prone father, marriage-obsessed daughter, and a wife who spends her time baking. Ages 3%E2%80%938. (June)