NO BITING LOUISE

A knockoff from two respected veterans who usually do better. Writing with care but none of her customary flair, Palatini addresses, mostly, parents of offspring who bite. Louise won’t stop, and her parents wring their paws helplessly. Along comes Grandma with the reassurance that she can’t help it, and anyway, it’s just a phase she’s going through. In the end, Louise gets over it—going on to a bolting-food-and-then-belching issue. Young readers may enjoy watching Louise, depicted in the animated cartoon art as a crocodile-like creature with spiky human hair and overalls, zeroing in on a succession of tails, butts and in one memorable scene the heads of action-figure dolls, but otherwise there’s nothing to distinguish this from the similarly purposive likes of Nick Ward’s Don’t Eat The Babysitter! (2004), Jeanne Willis’s No Biting, Puma!, illustrated by Mark Burchall (2001), or Elizabeth Verdick’s Teeth Are Not for Biting, illustrated by Marieka Heinlen (2003). (Picture book. 3-5)