MOUSE MESS Text and illustration by Linnea Riley. Published by the Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc. - $16.95 MOUSE MESS, a 32-page picture book for children 3 to 7, from The Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc., is a tale of a mouse's nighttime feast that leaves the kitchen in chaos. We are happy to report that it was published to enthusiastic reviews and was picked as one of the best children's books of the year by the New York Public Library. ISBN 0-590-10048-3 "When a mouse ventures out for a nighttime snack, he turns the kitchen into a midnight mess. He's just waking up, in fact, as the human family toddles off to bed, and the kitchen is his playground. Riley (The 12 Days of Christmas, 1995, etc.) uses bold colors for her cut-paper collages and almost life-size proportions to include readers in the mouse's illicit feast. Cookies, crackers, and cornflakes join olives, peanut butter, and cheese, cascading like a waterfall from the counter to the kitchen floor." "When the mouse's pig-out is complete, he cleans himself up using a teacup for a tub. He's ready for bed by morning, just as the family rises to discover the food fiasco he has left behind. A tasty frolic. (Picture book. 4-7)" - Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. - From Kirkus Reviews, 09/15/97 › add to basket

SONG OF NIGHT: It's Time to Go to Bed Text by Katherine Riley Nakamura and illustration by Linnea Riley. Published by the Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc. - $16.95 SONG OF NIGHT is a soothing good-night picture book for those special moments when you cuddle up with your little ones as they prepare for bedtime. With warmth and gentle humor, the rhyming text is ideal for reading aloud and the charming illustrations are filled with amusing details. ISBN 0-439-26678-5 From Publishers Weekly: "Riley and her daughter, newcomer Nakamura, team up for a look at the bedtime rituals of eight parent-and-child animal pairs. "Mice brush their teeth/ without a care./ They make a mess/ most everywhere," accompanies a scene of mild bathroom chaos that may well remind fans of Riley's Mouse Mess (the book itself makes a cameo appearance in a scene of a feline family's bedtime reading)." "The rhymes are workmanlike ("Baby Bear will softly sigh/ as Daddy sings a lullaby"), but the humorous details of the vignettes (as Little Skunk prepares for bed, a ladybug sprays perfume in the air) and Riley's signature velour-like textures exude the warmth of familial connections. One especially congenial full-bleed spread toward the end gathers all eight families together as they gaze up at a full moon. (Infants through toddlers)" - Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. › add to basket