Eugene Yelchin

Poems intended for two voices celebrate nature and how its creatures are interrelated. Seeds helicopter, hitchhike and travel by bird; worms snack; snails leave trails and more in playful verses made more accessible by the large, colorful, almost whimsical illustrations.

La Paz is a happy, but noisy village. A little peace and quiet would make it just right. So the villagers elect the bossy Don Pepe as their mayor. Before long, singing of any kind is outlawed. But there is one noisy rooster who doesn’t give two mangos about this mayor’s silly rules. Instead, he does what roosters were born to do. This allegory celebrates the spirit of freedom, and the courage of those who are born to sing at any cost.

Eeny, meeny, miney, moe! Who ate all the cookie dough? asks a mother kangaroo of other animals. No one knows, of course, until the culprit can be found quite close to home! Children will catch on to the repetition quickly and will delight in the rhyming response.

Won Ton the cat is back with a new arrival: a puppy! How the adult cat and small dog get on — or not — (until ultimately they learn to live in harmony) is told in haiku. The staccato language of 17 syllable form adds humor and verve to ideally complement the expressive illustrations.