cover image A Name for Number Nine: Story

A Name for Number Nine: Story

Amelia Judson. Little Brown and Company, $7.95 (28pp) ISBN 978-0-316-49003-0

The Critters of Critter County include a mouse, a pig, a bear, a hen and other animals. Their lives together are chronicled in Critter Tale picture and activity books. In this one, Number Nine, who hates his name, is a penguin looking for work, but he bumbles everything and feels terrible. At the county fair, Number Nine saves Zippy the mouse from drowning; after that, everyone calls him Champ. The Critters always believed that Champ would eventually succeed, and they constantly encouraged him. The lessons on cooperation and support are subtle but effective, and the Critter Tales books are engagingthis one especially so. (3-8)