TOO LOUD LILY

Lily Hippo can’t keep quiet. Her family and friends are always asking her to keep it down. But when Lily Hippo meets Miss Loopiola, the new music and drama teacher, she finally gets to turn it up, and her confidence increases accordingly. To Miss Loopiola, Lily’s loudness is an asset, not a liability, and she encourages the young hippo to let loose in the school play. Argent’s charming vignettes and full-bleed spreads, which appear to be watercolors, show Lily’s transformation, from lumbering goofball to confident star. Her depiction of Lily on opening night—performing in an emerald green gown, with pink gloves, painted toenails, and polka-dotted briefs, revealed as she leaps across the stage—is particularly effective. (Picture book. 5-7)