NIBBLES

Like all the other guinea pigs in Dandeville, Nibbles loves dandelion leaves, eating them for every meal until they’ve nearly disappeared—there’s only one left! Resourceful Nibbles goes to the library, finds a book and learns how to grow them to ensure a sustainable supply. This is a simple story with a message that is delivered gently and with good humor. Middleton’s mixed-media collages will delight readers, who can look for the differences in the nearly identical guinea pigs on the endpapers, find actual photographs of dandelion leaves and flowers, cabbage, animal fur and good garden dirt, and maybe even laugh out loud. (Don’t miss the guinea pig shopping on the Internet.) Teachers and librarians will be especially pleased that this computer-savvy protagonist solves his problem by reading “very carefully,” and they will applaud the self-control that keeps him from eating his dandelion before its flower turned to seeds. Published as Christopher Nibble in the United Kingdom in 2009, this should please readers on this side of the Atlantic as well. (Picture book. 4-7)