BILLY AND MILLY, SHORT AND SILLY

The short-story and picture-book forms are taken to a new level with these 13 very succinct vignettes told in double-page spreads using only three- or four-word rhymes formed with nouns and verbs. For example, the first story features a round-spectacled Billy holding a basketball and Milly next door, each sitting on their respective “stoops” waiting for the ice-cream truck. Billy plays “hoops” while Milly eats her “scoops” until Billy’s ball lands on Milly’s cone: “oops.” The four rhyming words are descriptive enough to emphasize action and reaction in a complete story, the main narrative thread of which depends on Mourning’s cartoon-style illustrations done in a mixed-media collage. Feldman’s choices of noun/verb combinations are not only clever but present a variety of amusing, imaginative and sensible scenarios. New readers will be able to visually move through the stories easily and will be encouraged to talk about the adventures and misadventures of these two friends after they read each rhyming set. A wonderfully playful introduction to language, rhyme and storytelling. (Picture book. 5-7)