cover image Happy Birthday Rotten Ralph [With 2 Sided Cassette]

Happy Birthday Rotten Ralph [With 2 Sided Cassette]

Jack Gantos. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), $9.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-618-12539-5

Spring has sprung with a bouquet of book-and-cassette titles. Despite his rotten behavior, Ralph the cantankerous red cat is feted by his owner, Sarah, in Happy Birthday Rotten Ralph by Jack Gantos, illus. by Nicole Rubel. The lively story, read by the author, features rambunctious background music, ""meow"" page-turn signals and the plastic case with handle familiar to fans of the Houghton Mifflin Carry-Along Book and Cassette Favorites series. (Apr.)