ELLEN AND PENGUIN AND THE NEW BABY

The stars of Ellen and Penguin (1993) are back and this time they have a new baby brother who manages to intrude upon just about everything. He cries when they're trying to listen to a quiet story, he goes wherever they go, and he gets to have Ellen's old mobile over his crib. A spare and perfectly understated text shows how Ellen expresses disgruntlement through Penguin; in Vulliamy's warm watercolors readers and listeners see Penguin through Ellen's eyes, as he accurately reflects her feelings. As part of the design, Ellen seems to recede into the pages when she's unhappy, and fairly burst from the illustration when she's happy. With so many books available about new arrivals in the family, there's still room for one as high-spirited and realistic as this one. (Picture book. 3-5)