JAMES BEAR'S PIE

Weary of alfalfa, Bear takes friend Skunk's advice and goes to Crow's house to borrow his cookbook and oven to bake a raisin- and-soybean pie. But a monumental error in the amount of leavening in the crust leads to an emergency: the pie's delicious, but goes on expanding even after Bear begins hungrily to eat it. In effect, it swallows him, and Crow's sharp beak is required to get him out. Like Beatrix Potter, Latimer rejoices in a rich vocabulary that he enjoys sharing with children; as in other books (Fox Under First Base, 1991), his narration here is wonderfully comical, blending details that are certain to delight kids with colorful descriptions that respect their intelligence and will also tune their ears to the sophisticated use of language. Meanwhile, Franco-Feeney makes an outstanding debut with witty illustrations whose lovingly meticulous rendering of details recalls Jan Brett's work. A winning combination of tall-tale humor and whimsical wordplay; a charming readaloud. (Fiction/Picture book. 5-10)