From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3–When Duck discovers an ad in the paper announcing a talent show at the county fair (first prize, a slightly used trampoline), Farmer Brown's animals are unstoppable. The cows and sheep concentrate on their singing while the pigs work on interpretive dance. How the suspicious farmer could ever confuse all this noise with routine snoring is a bit of a stretch, but the hilarious late-night practice scenes inside the barn will help readers make the leap. At the talent show, the cows and sheep impress some of the judges, but lack of sleep has the pigs truly snoring when it is time to perform. Fortunately, Duck steps in to save the day with a winning version of Born to Be Wild. After the talent show, Farmer Brown suspects nothing until he hears boings coming from the barn. Comical watercolor illustrations provide the punch lines to many jokes within the well-paced text. SHELF LOCATION: Pb C88

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 4–A wave deposits an old-fashioned contraption at the feet of an inquisitive young beachcomber. It’s a Melville underwater camera, and the excited boy quickly develops the film he finds inside. The photos are amazing: a windup fish, with intricate gears and screwed-on panels, appears in a school with its living counterparts; a fully inflated puffer, outfitted as a hot-air balloon, sails above the water; miniature green aliens kowtow to dour-faced sea horses; and more. The last print depicts a girl, holding a photo of a boy, and so on. As the images become smaller, the protagonist views them through his magnifying glass and then his microscope. The chain of children continues back through time, ending with a sepia image of a turn-of-the-20th-century boy waving from a beach. After photographing himself holding the print, the youngster tosses the camera back into the ocean, where it makes its way to its next recipient. This wordless books vivid watercolor paintings have a crisp realism that anchors the elements of fantasy. Shifting perspectives, from close-ups to landscape views, and a layout incorporating broad spreads and boxed sequences, add drama and motion to the storytelling and echo the photographic theme. Filled with inventive details and delightful twists, each snapshot is a tale waiting to be told.
SHELF LOCATION:  Caldecott Pb W63