True Companions

Companion books blossom this spring. The maligned mutt returns in a sequel to last year's bestseller: Walter the Farting Dog: Trouble at the Yard Sale by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray, illus. by Audrey Colman. Father, fed up with Walter's malodorous practice keeping buyers away from his yard sale table, sells the family pet to a suspicious-looking fellow who uses the pooch's singular ability as part of a bank-robbing scheme—a plan that, er, backfires. (Dutton, $15.99 32p ages 4-8 ISBN 0-525-47217-7; Apr.)

Another four-legged creature is suspected of an olfactory offense in What's That Awful Smell? by Heather Tekavec, illus. by Margaret Spengler. The familiar barnyard gang from Storm Is Coming finds a likely culprit lurking in the barn—a sanguine piglet. They try everything from covering it with hay to smearing it with strawberries to eliminate its odor, "but the smell didn't go away." When the animals resign themselves to abandoning their barn, only Cat can solve this mystery. (Dial, $15.99 32p ages 4-up ISBN 0-8037-2660-0; Mar.)

Practice makes perfect in Beverly Billingsly Can't Catch by Alexander Stadler, the third outing for this irrepressible heroine. Beverly loves softball ("she could stand in right field and sing as loud as she wanted, or watch butterflies"), never considering why she and her friend Oliver always get picked last for the team. As the two set out to shirk their "loser" status (coached by their favorite librarian), they become the very models for "practice makes perfect." Hilarious writing ("Oliver was standing somewhere that didn't even have a name") and useful softball tips ("Never run backward; it's dangerous and slow") add further appeal. (Harcourt/Silver Whistle, $16 32p ages 3-7 ISBN 0-15-204906-1; Apr.)

The plucky Dumpy the dump truck now stars in a pair of My First I Can Read Books by Julie Andrews Edwards and Emma Walton Hamilton, illus. by Tony Walton: Dumpy's Apple Shop, in which the four-wheel hero helps the Barnes family take their wares to the Apple Harbor Apple Day Celebration, and Dumpy to the Rescue! which finds Dumpy and the whole farm searching for Baby Goat after he goes missing at dinnertime. (HarperCollins, $14.99 each 32p ages 3-5 ISBN 0-06-052692-0;-052690-4; Mar.)

Reprising the characters from Where Is the Apple Pie? and One Rainy Day, The Big Trip by Valeri Gorbachev is full of imagined adventures that ultimately take Pig nowhere. Each time Pig announces his mode of travel on the big trip he is planning, the bespectacled Goat dissuades him with stories of what might go wrong. If Pig rides a bike, Goat warns, he might fall off; if he boards a plane, the engine might stop. Gorbachev's watercolors of his supporting cast are as appealing as ever as they enter into or observe Pig's antics. (Philomel, $15.99 32p ages 3-up ISBN 0-399-23965-0; Apr.)

In Bridget and the Moose Brothers by Pija Lindenbaum, trans. by Kjersti Board, life as an only child is too quiet for the heroine of Bridget and the Muttonheads. She thinks her problems are solved when she meets three moose brothers to keep her company. But after abortive attempts to get the moose to play or draw nicely ("The brothers draw mostly thunderstorms and knives"), she is grateful for her quiet room and no siblings. (FSG/R&S, $16 32p ages 4-8 ISBN 91-29-66046-7; Apr.)

This fourth collaboration on a nature topic, Four Seasons Make a Year by Anne Rockwell, illus. by Megan Halsey, takes readers on a journey through the year, marking time with the equinoxes, solstices and agricultural rhythms. Each season, readers see the transformations underway on a girl's farm (particularly that of a sunflower planted during the spring rains—by summer, the flower dwarfs the girl, by fall, it "droops its huge blossom, heavy with seeds"). Halsey works in collage composed of cutouts of her own inked and painted drawings, giving the compositions a shadow box feel. (Walker, $15.95 32p ages 4-8 ISBN 0-8027-8883-1; Mar.)

Jeannie Baker projects a hopeful portrait of urban renewal in Home. As in her previous Window, the picture book unfolds as a wordless series of collages, this time charting the rebirth of a neighborhood as a girl, Tracy, grows up. Readers watch the community come together as a major clean-up effort gets underway, with lush vegetation rejuvenating the dilapidated neighborhood. (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, $15.99 32p ages 4-up ISBN 0-06-623935-4; Mar.)

Readers can identify awakening animals along with the title character in Millie Wants to Play! by Janet Pedersen, first introduced in Millie in the Meadow. As the bovine star awaits the rooster's cry, other animal noises fill the barnyard. "That's not the rise-and-shine sound, Millie thought.... Sounds like...." Children should relish the chance to guess the answer along with Millie, as she buoyantly proclaims the answer on the following page. (Candlewick, $15.99 32p ages 3-6 ISBN 0-7636-1993-0; Mar.)

Earth Day

With Earth Day approaching (April 22), these environmentally friendly titles provide some education and inspiration. Readers delve into the history and ecology of our world in Our Planet Earth by Giovanni Caviezel, illus. by Roberta Pagnoni. This globe-shaped book, composed of eight thick die-cut pages that sandwich mini-books in between, explains how the earth was formed and developed, plus shows how the earth's rotation causes night and day, and its revolution around the sun creates the seasons. Other concepts explored include the water cycle, tectonics, climate zones and an overview of continents and nations. Accessible illustrations incorporate children (and a recurrent seagull) to help elucidate the scientific ideas. (Barron's, $8.95 40p ages 8-11 ISBN 0-7641-5750-7; Apr.)

Kids can turn trash into treasure with Recycled Crafts Box by Laura Martin. Martin (Nature's Art Box) encourages creativity and environmental awareness with more than 35 projects such as "Paper Bead Bangles" made from wrapping paper and drinking straws, a "Fancy Foil Fish" mobile made from disposable pie tins or take-out containers, and a "Dancing Tin Can Man" made from... you guessed it. The paperback book also contains recycling tips and Web sites, as well as brief interviews with artists who regularly incorporate recycled materials. (Storey Kids, $10.95 paper 96p ISBN 1-58017-522-8; Mar.)

For a lighter take on the environment, clever poems about an array of animals abound in Animal Tracks: Wild Poems to Read Aloud by Charles Ghigna, illus. by John Speirs, a companion to Animal Trunk. Zany watercolors portray such scenes as a trio of fierce four-legged fighters up against the ropes of a boxing ring with a lone human spectator, clad in a wool sweater, in "Do Not Bully a Bull" ("Do not badger a badger./ Do not bully a bull./ Do not beep at the long-horned sheep,/ Especially while wearing wool"). (Abrams, $14.95 38p ages 3-6 ISBN 0-8109-4841-9; Mar.)

On the heels of his ArmyAnt Parade, Rick Chrustowski examines a clutch of young bluebird hatchlings as they learn to fly in Blue Sky Bluebird. One reluctant bluebird is depicted taking flight for the first time. The book features a sidebar, "Peek Inside an Egg," that shows the embryo's development, and concludes by discussing the resurgence of the bluebird population as well as variants in the species across the nation. (Holt, $16.95 32p ages 4-7 ISBN 0-8050-7104-0; Apr.)

Rooted in history, The Flower Hunter: William Bartram, America's First Naturalist by Deborah Kogan Ray offers a diary-style account of young William Bartram's (1739—1823) studies of nature, including his travels with his botanist father, John (1699—1777). The author highlights certain episodes during a nearly 30-year period as the pair traversed the Southeast, discovering and identifying numerous botanical species along the way. Maps, paintings that depict the father-son adventures, and a reproduction of one of William Bartram's illustrations (plus additional plants identified by the pair, depicted at book's end) round out this compelling account. (FSG/Foster, $17 40p ages 8-up ISBN 0-374-34589-9; Apr.)