Review_CHILDREN’SReview_CHILDREN’S
62 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ MARCH 2, 2020
Underwood and Derby remark on people’s
largely indoor lives in a new picture book
(reviewed on this page).Picture Books
Mrs Bibi’s Elephant
Reza Dalvand. Flying Eye, $16.95 (32p)
ISBN 978-1-912497-16-4
The children in Mrs Bibi’s town love
Mrs Bibi and her pet elephant; when she
and her pet go out in the morning, kids use
the pachyderm as a playground. Dalvand
(What Could That Be?) paints tiny figures
cavorting on the elephant’s head as the
gigantic creature showers them gently.
Mrs Bibi cares tenderly for her pet at
home, too: at night, she “told her ele-
phant stories so that he would have nice
dreams.” But the adults in town have
other ideas about him. Dalvand depicts a
grouchy crowd admonishing her: “They
said that instead of talking to an ele-
phant, Mrs Bibi should read the news-
paper, check the stock market and keep
up to date with economics!” They sen-
tence her elephant to the zoo, but their
attempt ends in town-wide distress.
Delicate lines, pastel colors, and finely
worked patterns give coziness to Dalvand’s
spreads. His didactic portrayal of the
tension between the eccentric pet owner
and her neighbors make it clear where his
sympathies lie as Mrs Bibi’s neighbors
discover that quality of life can exist out-
side mundane concerns. Ages 3–5. (Apr.)Dirt Cheap
Mark Hoffman. Knopf, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-
1-5247-1994-4
Every great businessperson starts out
small. Hoffman’s (Fruit Bowl) unseen
interlocutor introduces readers to Birdie,
a girl with huge yellow glasses who yearns
for a XR1000 Super Extreme Soccer Ball
that costs $24.95: “It’s so beautiful. I want
it. I need it!” she tells the audience. “Well,”
says the narrator, “soccer balls cost money.
How much ya got?” The answer is zilch—
until Birdie, noticing how she’s surrounded
by yards and gardens, starts selling the
dirt from her yard at 25¢ a bag. As the
colorful acrylic and pencil drawings depict
the customers literally piling up, readers
also get a lesson in money-related compu-
tation—Birdie discovers that 25¢ can be
five nickels, 25 pennies, and so on. But thejoy of owning the XR1000 is short-lived;
now Birdie has no yard to play in, and in a
wordless, bird’s-eye view spread, Birdie’s
parents emerge from the front door and
discover the trench that now encircles
their house. Capitalism to the rescue
again—only no more selling stuff. Birdie
earns the money to replace the dirt by
entering the gig economy: “Try Birdie’s
Lawn Care.” Can an IPO be far behind?
Ages 3–7. (Apr.)★ Outside In
Deborah Underwood, illus. by Cindy Derby.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $17.99 (40p)
ISBN 978-1-328-86682-0
“Once/ we were part of Outside/ and
Outside was part of us/ There was nothing
between us,” begins Underwood (Ducks!)
in plainspoken lines. “Now/ sometimes
even when/ we’re outside.../ we’re inside.”
Derby (How to Walk an Ant) portrays this
tension in a gentle series of illustrations
that mix gauzy, muted tones and textures
with punctuations of color. The pictures
follow a small child and family, visual-
izing moments, indoors and out, when
“outside reminds us” of its abiding
presence. Inside, “flashes at the window”
illuminate a hallway, a window-side
transformation exemplifies nature’s “slow
magic tricks,” a tiny snail sneaks in on a
bunch of kale, and rooftop serenades
include “chirps/ and rustles/ and tap-taps
on the roof.” Even when the girl sits (“in
wooden chairs,/ once trees”) or stands at
the bathroom sink (“rivers come inside”),
the outdoors communicates its presence,
requesting attention. In the final pages,
the child and a cat step outside into a
feathery, vibrant landscape—a movingreminder that nature’s beckoning need
not go unrequited. Ages 4–7. Author’s
agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary.
Illustrator’s agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea
Brown Literary. (Apr.)Lali’s Feather
Farhana Zia, illus. by Stephanie Fizer
Coleman. Peachtree, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-
1-68263-129-4
Zia (Child of Spring) dives right into
this buoyant tale, which draws its energy
from folktale-like storytelling and lots of
chatter. Lali, an Indian girl with a long
black braid, finds a feather and asks the
neighborhood birds one by one if it’s theirs.
They answer scornfully: “Na, Lali, na!”
the rooster responds, “My feather is a big
feather. It makes me a lordly bird.” All
right, Lali thinks—if it doesn’t belong to
any of the birds, she’ll play with it herself.
The feather can write, she finds, and fan
and sweep. “Oo ma,” Duck cries, “I didn’t
know pokey feather could do that!”
Exclamations make the exchanges even
funnier. “Wah! It’s a clever feather!” the
birds agree, showing a new appreciation
for it. A third sequence begins when wind
sweeps the feather away and the good-
hearted birds offer Lali substitutes, then
help her search. Stylized spreads by
Coleman (the Who Made My Lunch?
series) portray the birds and the mango and
tamarind trees of Lali’s world energetically
but without detracting from the story’s
forward momentum. It’s all dialogue all the
time—a prime candidate for reading aloud.
Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Jennifer Unter, the
Unter Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Anne Moore
Armstrong, the Bright Agency. (Apr.)The Yawns Are Coming!
Christopher Eliopoulos. Dial, $17.99 (32p)
ISBN 978-1-984816-30-6
Eliopoulos (Monster Mayhem) has created
a sneakily effective bedtime book focused
on an interest shared by kids everywhere:
valiantly resisting sleep. Two best friends,
a brown-skinned narrator sporting a blue
bear onesie and his guest, white-skinned
Noodles, who wears a green dinosaur
onesie, make a long list of sleepover plans—
none of which, naturally, involves snoozing.
The pair play games, jump on the trampo-
line, and collect fireflies, but their plan goes
awry when, in the middle of a card game,
Noodles frantically announces: “THEChildren’s/YA