YELLOW BIRD, BLACK SPIDER

A seeming friendship turns out to be anything but in this startling double debut. In the art, created with deceptive simplicity from geometric shapes, bright solid colors, and occasional clipped photos, a yellow bird poses next to a blue boat, a white hotel, and a red electric guitar in succession, as a small black spider asks puzzled questions: “Why don’t you fly across the sea?” “I like to sail, actually.” “Why don’t you make a nice, cozy nest?” “I like hotels, actually.” Also, explains the bird, dancing on the beach, taking luxurious baths, and wearing striped socks. Readers expecting another comfortably conventional take on the pleasures of being unconventional are in for a shock, though, as Spider’s next question is its last: “Why don’t you eat some yummy, squelchy worms?” “Actually . . . I like to eat spiders.” Gulp. Not nice—not nice at all. The art and very brief text will steer this toward younger readers; the plot may provide a bit of emotional preparation for later encounters with the likes of “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” or Hilaire Belloc’s genially savage verses. (Picture book. 5-7)