Books for Kids

THE GREAT PANCAKE ESCAPE

By Paul Many

Illustrated by Scott Goto

Walker & Co.: 32 pp., $16.95

After a magician father bungles breakfast, magical hotcakes lead three hungry children on a wild chase in this rhyming tale of pancake pursuit: “We had no chance to stop them/as they leaped up on their edges,/skittered quickly out the door,/and rolled right past the hedges.” The children (and readers) spot the fleeing flapjacks posing as manhole covers, dog Frisbees and wheels on in-line skates, and at one point, in an apparent nod to Magritte, they serve as umbrellas for some bowler-hatted citizens. At last, a backward spell summons the pancakes home.

In his first picture book, young adult novelist Paul Many (“These Are the Rules”) employs rhythmic, playful verse (the cakes take wing and become “batter-flies” at one point); an author’s note points out that the words can be sung to the tune of “O, Susanna.” An uneven font enclosed in blobs of batter reflects the frenzy of the hotcake hunt, as do Scott Goto’s (“Heat Wave!”) dizzying close-ups.

Far from appetizing in appearance, the gaping mouths and wide eyes on both people and animals, and Goto’s use of browns and eerie greens lend a portentous feel. And some parts are almost spooky. For example, the father sports a fiendish smile and wild gaze when spell casting amid flames and smoke. The hyperbolic art proves a curiously unsettling accompaniment for this escapist tale. (Ages 5-8)

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SIXTEEN COWS

By Lisa Wheeler

Illustrated by Kurt Cyrus

Harcourt: 38 pp., $16

Romance on the range is inevitable after a tornado destroys a fence, and a cowgirl’s eight cows mix with a cowboy’s matching herd. But the neighbors don’t take to each other right quick. Sue Waddle, who rides a palomino and twirls a mean lariat, tries to coax her Holsteins back to her property. “ ‘Don’t mingle with those low-down cows,’ she cried. ‘That just won’t do!’/She broke into her come-home song ... but Gene was singing, too.” Gene Biddle, who drives a pickup and wears a big black hat, yells for his cattle and lures Sue’s as well. The stubborn ranchers compete (“‘I’m singin’ all my cows back home!’/ ‘I’m singin’ mine home, too!’/And sixteen cows in unison responded with a ‘Moo!’”), until they realize that they and their livestock are meant to be together.

Kurt Cyrus (“Oddhopper Opera”) uses the horizontal layouts to good effect in expansive watercolors of the golden prairie, and he observes every detail of Gene’s wood stove, Sue’s buckskin duds and the udder-shaped latex-glove balloons at the wedding. But his galloping cows have more comic personality than the cowhands, whose melding of hearts takes place offstage. Still, Lisa Wheeler’s (“Wool Gathering: A Sheep Family Reunion”) rubbery rhymes and humorous lists of cow-names keep the pages turning at a lively clip. (Ages 3-7)

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MR. WOLF AND THE THREE BEARS

By Jan Fearnley

Harcourt: 32 pp., $16

Mr. Wolf, who enjoyed flapjacks with a side order of Chicken Little in “Mr. Wolf’s Pancakes,” is an easygoing chef with a take-no-prisoners approach to etiquette. In another archly hilarious gathering of nursery characters, he now prepares a birthday feast for Baby Bear, with help from Grandma.

When the Three Bears arrive, “someone barged in front of them! It was Goldilocks!” A smirking girl stands in the doorway with eyes narrowed. “She said she was invited, too,” Daddy Bear protests, fiddlingwith his tie. The hosts frown uncomfortably while the blond bully stuffs her face with Huff Puff Cakes and Cheesy Snipsnaps (recipes are provided, along with a plug for a Mr. Wolf Web site). To distract Baby Bear, who weeps, Grandma calls for a game of hide-and-seek, “but no hiding in the kitchen, please.”

Afterward, Goldilocks fails to reappear. “Never mind,” says Grandma, carrying in a huge, steaming hot pie, crimped in a familiar curly design. “She’s gone now, and I’ve made us a special treat to celebrate.”

With her wry humor, Jan Fearnley does not reveal the mystery filling of the “golden” dessert in either text or illustrations. Readers will relish the satisfying, wicked twist; party crashers, beware. (Ages 3-7)

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ANGELO

By David Macaulay

Houghton/Lorraine: 48 pp., $16

Despite his “professional dislike” for birds, an elderly plasterer named Angelo carries home an injured pigeon he comes across while restoring the exterior of a church. “I restore walls, not pigeons,” he grumbles, but an unlikely friendship springs up as he nurses Sylvia back to health. Later, she returns the favor: When she sees that he moves a bit more slowly, she sticks around to “coo encouragement,” fanning him with her wings on hot days and entertaining him at lunchtime. David Macaulay (“Building Big”; “Rome Antics”) knows how to get the most humor out of his illustrations, both in the finer details (Angelo and Sylvia sporting matching red scarves in winter) and the broader strokes (as Angelo tells Sylvia of the church’s restoration as his “crowning achievement,” he imagines the building’s facade glimmering in glory, while she imagines pigeons perching on every available surface). He thus balances the melancholy elements of the tale with moments of lightness. Angelo’s swan song to Sylvia is especially poignant. Macaulay’s artwork conveys respect for Angelo’s talent, and the artist wedges a good deal of architecture and sculpture into his watercolors. Though the setting goes unnamed, the rust-colored tile roofs and other details make it clear that readers have been whisked to Italy. (All ages)