Crazy busy as I will do 10 booktalk sessions plus talk to teachers and parents in south Texas before the end of the week. Still, I grabbed a few new picture books before they packed away to make room for the carpet and tile people who will storm the house in the next week or so.





This book is a tad longer than the traditional picture book at 80 pages. However, the text is very spare and should not overwhelm readers in the least. A huge rock is cleft in two. One half is hauled away and used by an artist to make the statue of an elephant. But the elephant rock longs for its other half. It's heart breaks and the rock is given to another artist who fashions what is left into another statue. Over the course of years, the rock becomes smaller and smaller until it is nothing but dust. Finally the dust is blown back and reunited with its other half. The illustrations are eloquent themselves.

From touching and spiritual to comic, the pair that combined their talents to ANIMALS SHOULD DEFINITELY NOT WEAR CLOTHING brings readers NEVER TAKE A SHARK TO THE DENTIST.





Good advice includes not sitting next to a porcupine on the subway, knitting a hat for a moose, and inviting ants to a picnic.