CLICK, CLACK, MOO I LOVE YOU!

A little diversity goes a long way toward getting the party started in this latest farm tale from Cronin and Lewis.

While Farmer Brown is busy fixing up the farmyard, mucking out the pigpen, giving hay to the donkey, and mending fences, Little Duck is just as busy spiffing up the barn for a dance, hanging streamers and lights and balloons and cutting out hearts to make valentines for all her guests (glitter festoons the book). That evening, Little Duck and her guests are great examples of host and guests; she greets everyone individually with a valentine, and they give her food for the party. (Except the cows; they are at a fancy ball.) Music gets the dancing started, but not the mingling—at least until one last, late arrival. Will Little Fox add to the party or eat the party? Little Duck isn’t daunted. She hands her last card to Little Fox, and they cut a rug, inspiring the rest of the guests to mingle freely until the cows (literally) come home. Lewin’s characters are a delight, their facial expressions bringing life to this party. And the mice doing the hustle? They are worth the price of admission all by themselves.

A lesson in diversity and making people welcome that starts kids off on the right foot in these rough, divided times.