The Baby Uggs Are Hatching

We've fallen in love with this book. We couldn't help it! The inimitable children's poet Jack Prelutsky and illustrator James Stevenson have won our hearts with such extravagant creatures as the Quossible ("its habits are impossible,/its temper is irascible,/its manners are not passable") and the Sneezysnoozer who sneezes "in a dozen sneezy sizes,/it sneezes little breezes/and it sneezes big surprises/and it sneezes teeny wheezes,/so it easily amuses,/when the Sneezysnoozer sneezes/as the Sneezysnoozer chooses." We can't resist the Sneepies who lie in a heap or the Smasheroo who "broke a batch of bottles/into bits as big as beans,/and shattered stacks of saucers/into scads of smithereens." Stevenson, who teamed up with Prelutsky for the magnificent The New Kid on the Block and other books, delightfully depicts these deliciously absurd creatures in comical, lively pen-and-ink drawings. A starred review in School Library Journal calls this book "exuberant," and Horn Book calls it "splendid." We call it a book that no child should have to live without. (All ages)