MRS. FICKLE’S PICKLES

Ries follows a pickle grower step-by-step from buying the seed to eating the pickles she loves. A simple 16-line poem comprises the entire text, and every other line reads exactly the same—“Mrs. Fickle likes her pickles”—a device sure to spark audience response. Cote’s bright illustrations, done in gouache, carry much of the narrative, which begins with Mrs. Fickle buying seeds at a quaint garden shop. With a perpetual smile on her face, she plants and nurtures her nascent pickles, watched by two eager dogs and a bluebird that often perches atop her hat. She measures the height of the plants in her plethora of pots, and transfers them into neat rows in her back yard. Then she packs them in jars, and drives them to the county fair (in a pickle green convertible, naturally). Her pickles win a blue ribbon and she comes home to where she loves them best: “sitting on her tongue.” The simplicity of this breezy rural story will invite repeat readings and a slurp or two of anticipation. (Picture book. 2-6)