Books with title Down by the Cool of the Pool Book and Audiocassette Tape Set

The sun may be setting, but the wackiness is escalating on the shores of the farm pond. "Wheeeee!" proclaims a wide-eyed frog as it jets into the air, "Can you dance like me?" A duck, a pig, and a sheep are the first animals to rise to the challenge, and Mitton, building up the momentum, begins by patterning their respective responses in cumulative verse. As more and more critters join in, each proud of its own inimitable style ("Playful Pony began to prance. Donkey drummed his hoofbeat dance"), Mitton shifts the narrative's structure to move the action resolutely forward toward a literally splashy climax, in which everyone falls in the water. Parker-Rees ratchets up the goofiness of his kinetic watercolor cartoons by giving his animal stars the arm and leg extensions of ballerinas but the bodies of couch potatoes; their faces radiate an infectious silliness. The typography, too, enters into the spirit by shimmying and bouncing through the full-bleed spreads. Kids will likely want to dance or chant along.

Bart the sand ant has spent his whole life moving mounds of sand from one tunnel to another in an underground nest. He and the other ants have never seen the sky or felt the rain. One day, Bart feels the outside world beckoning him, and he flees the nest without being noticed. He quickly finds out that the world is full of wonder and joy, and of danger, as he narrowly escapes becoming lunch for a frog and almost drowns in a rain puddle. Bart begins to regret his escapade and heads home. The entrance guard questions him but then reassures him that "sometimes an ant just needs to look at the sky" and looks the other way as Bart gets back to work. After listening all summer to his tales of the sun, rain, and bees, fellow sand ant Floyd decides to go exploring and Bart joins him. The richly colored illustrations of the outside world contrast sharply with the browns and tans of the nest. Deep green grass and bright yellow flowers are seen from an ant's perspective. The insects are dressed as people, complete with hard hats and safety glasses. The message -- that it's good to take time for oneself -- is not subtle or indirect. Bonny Becker has written the perfect story for our hectic, over-scheduled lives. Nina Laden's illustrations bring the bustling insect world to life with humor and verve.

Popular children's book team Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees present another irresistible rhyming, fun-to-read story! The chimpanzees of Drabsville are miserable. The wicked mayor won't allow them to have any fun! Playgrounds, trees, and colors other than gray are outlawed in their gloomy town. However, when a traveler named Chutney dares to plant a tree, Drabsville begins to blossom into a colorful land of dancing, playing, and laughing. There's only one name for such a place--Happytown!

Two irresistible pigs, Thomas and Joseph, thwart their bossy farmyard neighbors a la Tom Sawyer in this amusing tale. Two hens, a rabbit, and a duck are disgusted with the messy pigpen and the food Thomas and Joseph eat. But when the hens propose that the pigs paint the pigpen fence, the pigs prove so clumsy that the hens paint it themselves. So too with picking vegetables and digging a water hole for the pigs to bathe in. Alert children will see the end coming: the other animals realize that the pigs are "not so dumb." Droll facial expressions and body language in the watercolor, ink, and colored pencil pictures create lively personalities in the farmyard cast of characters. Fans of Piggie Pie and Palatini's other books will appreciate anew the writer's skill in playing with language; the repetition, rhythm, and alliteration will make the story a pleasure to read aloud.