6/29/1999

 A follow-up to Tuesday (Caldecott, 1992): this time it's flocks of gigantic vegetables wafting through the air, landing all over the US--turnips larger than trees in the Rockies, plane- sized artichokes in Anchorage, limas in Levittown. At first it seems to be the result of young Holly Evans's experiment--she launched seedlings (by balloon) ``to study the effects of extraterrestrial conditions on vegetable growth''--but species are landing that she never sent up. The answer to the mystery makes an amusing conclusion; meanwhile, Wiesner has a lot of fun with details--imagine climbing a giant stalk of broccoli or roping down buoyant bell peppers, to say nothing of marketing these elephantine comestibles--and even more fun with the surreal visual effects. One of the best is some hilariously puzzled, slightly jaded sheep and a couple of Native American farmers investigating the canoe-sized pea-pods that have landed in what might be Monument Valley. The brief tongue-in-cheek text is a plus for story time, but these witty, wonderfully imaginative pictures reward closer study, too. Hurray for Wiesner, and his grand sense of humor! (Picture book. 5+)