MEET MR. AND MRS. GREEN

Replete with greens and grins, these three episodes introduce a pair of sunny tempered alligators—one with a taste for adventure, the other with a taste for chocolate, pancakes, and cherry snowcones. In the first, Mr. Green’s excitement after Mrs. Green proposes a camping trip changes to anxiety as he visualizes dark woods, glowing eyes, and mosquitoes, then relief when the map leads them around the neighborhood, then through a familiar gate, and finally the tent is pitched in their back yard. In the second, he needs a little help to make good on his determination to eat 100 pancakes, turning “green,” but managing a celebratory slice of cake when he does it. In the third, both Greens shine as her painting, and the flowers he puts on her hat, win blue ribbons at the County Fair. Though the Greens’ relationship doesn’t have the effervescence of, say, Frog and Toad’s, or George and Martha’s, children will enjoy following the rotund reptiles through their mini-adventures, and through the bright and snappy, simply drawn cartoon scenes. (Picture book. 5-7)