HELLO, SWEETIE PIE

In a third in the series of picture books about Lola the hamster that began with I Love You So Much (1998), Lola’s friend Lulu asks her, on the first day of class, what her parents call her. When Lola replies that they call her baby cake, sweetie pie, fairy princess, Lulu and the other children laugh and tease her. On her way home, however, Lola asks the baker and the police officer what their parents called them when they were little, and gets some charming responses. Still, once home she announces to her parents that she’s not a baby but a giant, not a fairy but a witch! But she succumbs when her parents call her sweetie pie (her favorite). At school the next day, Lola finds to her initial dismay that a jealous Lulu has adopted all of Lola’s nicknames for her own, but then Lola realizes that silly endearments are for everyone. The brown-and-gold palette and energetic line of the illustrations are a fine foil for the sweet story line, and Lola has the most expressive face any hamster could possess. She is hard to resist. (Picture book. 3-6)