The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders

Playful poet Jack Prelutsky and the beloved Petra Mathers (Lottie's New Beach Towel) take youngsters from the heart of South Dakota to Monterey Bay in this extraordinary collection of poems and paintings that belongs on the shelf next to Ride a Purple Pelican and Beneath a Blue Umbrella. As ever, Prelutsky's meter is flawless, and you absolutely read his poems aloud, even if you're sitting in a room by yourself. This is not the gross-out fare that Prelutsky so delightfully dishes out in Awful Ogre's Awful Day and some of his other books. Here are 28 nonsensical, often somewhat geographical poems for preschoolers and early readers about a tiny baker who bakes a tiny cookie, a granny who lost her footing and fell into pudding, elephants who sit in trees and sneeze, and a small hen who is stuck at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. With the lightest touch, Petra Mathers adds new dimensions and quirky subplots to every poem in endearing two-pages-per-poem watercolor paintings. Young readers will adore this colorful collection of quiet surprises by two of our favorite creators of children's books. (Ages 2 to 6) --Karin Snelson