JOHNNY MUTTON, HE’S SO HIM!

The mischievous but generous-hearted sheep raised as a boy, introduced in The Many Adventures of Johnny Mutton (2001), steps up for five more exploits, if that’s the word. After a classroom daymare in which his Momma gets eaten by his science project, Johnny loses a cook-off by giving away all of his cupcakes to needy passersby, throws classmate Gloria Crust a party to which no one else comes, wins over local store owner Mrs. Torpolli by writing love poems on her bags (“One dozen eggs. Six boxes of Jell-O. I like you. I just had to tello”), and finally loses a staring contest with Momma by blinking when she “toots” loudly. Done in brightly colored comic-strip art that in style resembles Matt Groening’s, and told almost entirely in dialogue balloons, these hip, nonviolent episodes will draw young fans of the slightly off-kilter. (Easy reader. 7-9)