cover image Stop That Nose!

Stop That Nose!

Martha Peaslee Levine. Marshall Cavendish Children's Books, $14.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-7614-5280-5

In this rhyming romp, which joins a growing number of titles about runaway noses, a powerful ""A-A-A-Choo!"" blows off Dad's proboscis (plus his Snidely Whiplash-style mustache) and sets son David on a lively chase as he aims, unsuccessfully, to prevent the renegade from wreaking havoc. Each ensuing sneeze produces a creature or object (aardvark, antelope, ambulance, etc.) that adds to the mayhem. Tilting buildings and rolling land create a dizzying sense of movement in White's full-bleed spreads. In one scene, an ape, accompanied by abundant spray, issues from the nose and catapults into a fruit stand (toppling bananas, cherries and grapes), while David, in pursuit and being chased himself by aardvark and antelope, steps on an alligator. In the following scene, the ape (with ""naughty nose"" attached) swings from a building antenna before the group gets picked up by a biplane. The story's wildly fantastic scenarios compensate for Levine's workmanlike rhymes (""The plane landed in David's backyard./ 'You caught my nose!' Dad cheered. 'Was it hard?'/ David said, 'Dad, your nose kept running;/ but as you can see, I was more cunning""). Ages 3-8.