LUCKY DAYS WITH MR. AND MRS. GREEN

Three more happy tales along the lines of those in More Mr. and Mrs. Green (2004) and its preceding volume. Here, the close-knit couple Sherlock their way to Mrs. Green’s missing pearls (stolen by crows while she was in the bath), win both a goldfish and a swimming pool full of jellybeans in a contest and, thanks to a bit of quick thinking on Mrs. Green’s part (plus a handy hose), triumph at a Talent Show. Baker is terrific at sliding funny little asides into the telling: At the talent show, the couple enjoy “the storyteller (a little Shakespeare, a lot of Dr. Seuss!).” The effervescent personalities of the all-alligator cast come through clearly in Baker’s small, bright green-and-purple scenes; those ready to move on to something slightly beyond the basic easy reader will enjoy all the energy and joie de vivre on display. (Fiction. 7-9)