CARLO AND THE REALLY NICE LIBRARIAN

Carlo’s library—readers will remember Carlo Likes Reading (2001)—looks like an exceptionally cozy house: toys, posters, mobiles, and flowers all about, along with books and computers. Carlo, who is a giraffe, even finds his pet cat welcome. He’s a little afraid of Mrs. Chinca, the librarian, who is, after all, a big green alligator. But she knows a lot about books, and gives Carlo his own library card (at which point the computer screen displays the titles Carlo has checked out). Along with Mrs. Chinca’s barcode scanner, there’s a date-due stamp, like the old-fashioned one seen on the flyleaf. The watercolor, acrylic, ink, and collage pictures are crayon-bright and are full of objects, often in movement—both Carlo and his cat do a number with the chairs on wheels. A wee introduction to libraries for wee folk. (Picture book. 4-7)