ME AND MY ANIMAL FRIENDS
by Ralph Covert and illustrated by Laurie Keller
Children’s musician Covert returns after his previous foray into the world of picture books in Ralph’s World Rocks (2008). In this latest outing a boy and a girl list a wild variety of remarkably talented animals (everything from a Minnesota minnow to a South Dakota snail) and beg their parents for permission to keep them: “Oh, please, pretty please, / from the bottom of my heart to the top of my head.” Lyrics and guitar chords appear in the back. When read entirely on their own, the words are enjoyable, if sometimes lacking a cohesive rhythm. Preferable are Keller’s collaged illustrations, which keep the book upbeat, peppy and colorful from start to finish. All the same, the songwriter’s continually collaged-in face grows a little unnerving after it’s seen for the seventh or eighth time. Nice enough, but with the plethora of I-want-a-pet books already available, it’s hard to see what anyone but the musician’s die-hard fans is going to see in this title. (Picture book. 4-8)