Poor Bob has no idea what he's in for, and Duck and friends have shrewdly seized this chance to move on from collective bargaining to outright subterfuge: "Bob gave Duck a good long stare and went inside. He read the first note: 'Tuesday night is pizza night (not the frozen kind!). The hens prefer anchovies.'" Well, seems like strange way to run a farm, but... "Twenty-nine minutes later there was hot pizza in the barn." Giggle, giggle, quack, indeed.
Clearly, Duck and his cow pals aren't the only ones around to have mastered the pencil and the keyboard. Cronin and Lewin have put their talents to good use yet again, offering up another simple but clever story fit for kids and grownups alike. Lewin seems to snicker throughout her playful watercolors (gotta love those monogrammed towels: "FB"), and Cronin has a ball with the animal cast and their human patsy. (What do the cows pick on movie night? "The Sound of Moosic," of course. Giggle, giggle, moo.) (Ages 4 to 8) --Paul Hughes