NINETY-THREE IN MY FAMILY

A huge menagerie shares digs with a family of five. The oversized (purple-haired) teacher asks the bug-eyed little boy, “How many live with you?” And he answers, “Ninety-two.” Skepticism leads to his illustrated explanation. Lester’s busy pictures—in pen and ink, scanned in a computer and digitally colored—are full of jokes large (all the animals crammed into a car), small (in a pizza-ordering tableau, little goldfish in a bowl holding a sign that declares, “No anchovies!), and in between. In one priceless picture, the little boy stands on a tall stool and aims a blow dryer at the 27 flapping owls while his two sisters Darlene and Winifred dutifully mop the floor and a frog peeks out from behind a leg of the stool. Perl’s narrative describes the chief challenges for the family with all the animals in bouncy verse: fighting over the TV, taking a bath, bedtime, etc. Rib-tickling romp with many counting opportunities for young listeners. (Picture book. 3-8)