Go Big or Go Gnome

Al the garden gnome has a cute house in a hollowed-out mushroom cap, a great job (shrubbery trimmer), and a good friend named Gnorm. What Al doesn’t have is facial hair: “He tries and tries, but he can’t grow a single whisker on his face” while all the other gnomes have “imperial beards and illustrious mustaches.” Al feels even more like an odd gnome out when he fails at faking a beard to get inside the Beards International Gnome-athlon. But when Gnorm has a beard emergency, Al discovers his true calling—and a second use for his topiary skills—as a “gnome-tastic” stylist. The text could have used some pruning, too, and Mayer, the author of several media-tie-in books, doesn’t really establish any emotional stakes—it’s not like anyone is ostracizing Al. But the premise works well for debut illustrator Horton, who achieves a fine blend of the comic and the pretty in her mixed-media drawings. She renders the gnomes’ idyllic garden in soft blues and greens, so that their white beards and red caps act as festive and funny punctuation marks. Ages 3–6. Illustrator’s agency: Astound U.S. Illustration. (Mar.)