Trainstop Barbara Lehman Houghton Mifflin © Apr. 2008 $16.00 hardcover		In Lehman's (The Red Book) latest wordless fantasy, a young urban dweller's subway excursion with her family takes an unexpected turn. Much to the girl's surprise, the train magically arrives in an idyllic countryside, where it is flagged down by a tiny, toylike figure. Hopping off (all the grown-ups are dozing), the girl discovers a Lilliputian world in need of a hero: one of their number has crashed his propeller plane into a fruit tree. The girl neatly rescues the aviator, then hops back on the train home with no one the wiser. A horizontal format supports the train theme and reinforces the visual storytelling. As in Lehman's previous works, the crisp, clean drawings and comics-style framings generate visual momentum; the author knows when to give the big picture (literally) and when to break down the action into smaller steps. Kids should enjoy following this story to the very end of the line, where the surprise on the final spreads asks readers to reconsider what they've seen earlier; and it brings an element of mystery, or at least a playful challenge, to the way readers look at the world around them. Ages 4-8.

Everybody Bonjours! Leslie Kimmelman, Illus. Sarah McMenemy Knopf © Apr. 2008 $16.99 hardcover		Kids may well demand to be taken to the nearest passport office after finishing this light-as-a-soufflé salute to the City of Lights. On vacation with her parents (clearly well-heeled) and little brother, a girl embraces her role as tourist, savoring all the places where one can say "Bonjour": On a barge trip down the Seine, at the top of the Tour Eiffel and Notre Dame, in a chic boutique -- or, as Kimmelman (Dance, Sing, Remember) puts it in her economical text: "Doing chores./ Eating petits fours./ Everybody bonjours!" McMenemy's (Waggle) mixed-media images, mostly full-page scenes of classic locations, are a stylish yet timeless mélange of fauvist whimsy and affectionate reportage; the days are sunny, the flowers are in brilliant bloom, and every Parisian is smiling. A bubbly, illustrated afterward offers a soupçon of additional information on each of the sites that appear in the pages. Fantastique! Ages 5-8.

Cool Daddy Rat Kristyn Crow, Illus. Mike Lester Putnam © Mar. 2008 $16.99 hardcover		Debut author Crow's hip ode to jazz (and scat in particular) will sweep up its audience in its catchy beat as kinetic cartoon art adds verve and wit. Blue-gray rats with bulbous snouts and ever-expressive eyes star in the animals-only tale. Bass player Cool Daddy Rat, in his rose-colored jacket and black beret, heads out to perform in the big city, but his son, Ace, stows away: Daddy Rat "got to scat for a fat cat/ witty kitty shoo bat/ went an odd way/ down Broadway/ hippy zippy/ zee zat/ and found Ace in his bass case!/ peeky squeaky who dat." After being made to phone his mother (Ace's rats-will-be-rats expression is alone worth the cover price), the little rat tags along to the various gigs, among them a rooftop party and a cruise. Lester's (A Is for Salad) computer-assisted watercolor illustrations in a heady palette show characters seemingly in perpetual motion -- jumping, dancing, moving ahead in the line outside a club. (Ignore the cover image, which seems defaced by the lettering for the title.) The undercurrent of scat, always printed in a colored font, will be read-aloud heaven for jazz-loving adults, giving kids an addictive first taste of the pleasures to be had. Ages 3-up.

Rosie and Buttercup Chieri Uegaki, Illus. Stéphane Jorisch Kids Can © Apr. 2008 $17.95 hardcover		Uegaki and Jorisch (previously paired for Suki's Kimono) bring poise and polish to a well-worn subject. At first Rosie's perfect life seems even more perfect when little sister Buttercup arrives. Rosie sings and plays with her and teaches her to dance. In time, Rosie becomes disenchanted and gives Buttercup away -- to her sitter, Oxford (in a typically fresh touch, Oxford is a middle-aged male). Predictably, she is soon sorry. A few basics are confusing: the well-dressed creatures do not belong to a recognizable species (possibly they are mice, but sans tails), and the passage of time is naggingly unclear -- the story seems to unfold over the first months of Buttercup's babyhood, yet she quickly becomes a surefooted toddler. Still, the book's graceful treatment overcomes both uncertainties. Uegaki's assured text assumes an intelligent reader: "One morning, Rosie woke up feeling peevish... a tiny idea that had been smoldering in her head burst into flame"; and offers offbeat images ("Rosie's heart jumped like a poked frog"), which, like her well-chosen details, provoke giggles. Jorisch's watercolor illustrations, uncluttered but dense with patterns, are crisp against generous fields of white space. Flowers and bumblebees loom big from the mouselike perspective; Rosie's colorful toys, clothes and furniture bear cheerful witness to her pleasurable life. Ages 3-7.

Benny and Penny: in Just Pretend Geoffrey Hayes RAW Junior/Toon © Apr. 2008 $12.95 hardcover		Hayes, creator of the Otto and Uncle Tooth mysteries, chooses mouse siblings as the subjects for this comic book cum easy reader, first in a planned series (Silly Lilly). Jazzy, multipanel layouts add a contemporary dimension to simply worded episodes about an eager younger sister and standoffish brother who relish their rivalry more than they admit. Benny fashions himself as a buccaneer with a black tricorn hat and a wooden sword; when he stands in a crate, a thought bubble shows him aboard a galleon that flies the Jolly Roger. Sweet-natured Penny, clad in baby-blue princess gear, wants to play, too, and he automatically rebuffs her: "No! Pirates are brave, and you are a cry-baby." At last Benny initiates a game of hide-and-seek, with no intention of seeking -- at least, until Penny disappears. Hayes's colored-pencil pictures set the action near the ground, in cozy panels depicting a secure woodland space. Shallow backgrounds ensure that the outside world never intrudes, except when Benny is startled by bugs that don't faze his sister. A close-range perspective gives readers a good look at Benny and Penny's facial expressions, supplying the context for the dialogue. These skillful drawings do just what they attempt: they lever beginning readers right into the story. Ages 4-up.

	Fiction

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Baseball Crazy: Ten Short Stories that Cover All the Bases Ed. Nancy E. Mercado Dial © Mar. 2008 $16.99 hardcover		There's no shortage of great writing in this collection of 10 stories. Baseball unifies the entries, but there the similarities end. From Jerry Spinelli's offbeat story about a "wiseacre wet-the-bed stinky-footed " orphan experiencing his first-ever major league game to Frank Portman's amusing two-and-a-half second journey inside the mind of ill-fated fielder Mark Pang, these entries present an impressive array of voices and styles, not to mention memorable young characters. John H. Ritter introduces Frankie Alvarez, a larger-than-life pitcher who saves his team's championship victory, a sharp contrast to Paul Acampora's Jeffrey, who earns his mother's disgust when he fails to strike out a crucial batter; meanwhile, Sue Corbett's Kirby, neither the worst nor the best, learns from the only girl on the team: "Don't think. Just react." Whether "baseball born and baseball raised" or tepid fans of America's pastime, readers will be drawn in by the masterful storytelling. Ages 8-up.