To the rhythm of “This is the House that Jack Built,” a boy, a girl, a cat, dog and mouse make a mess of the tidy Edwardian house of the title. Mom’s gone, the Nanny’s asleep and one disaster leads to another until dad gets home. He spearheads the clean-up effort to insure the house is once again tidy and neat when Mom gets back. Sloat’s rhymed text fits nicely into Jack’s template, and Alley’s pen, ink and watercolor visuals are full of fun and mischief. Spot and full-page illustrations flesh out the chaos described in the text. Alley’s wide-eyed, pudgy cartoons propel this new twist on an old favorite. As Alley points out in his note, it’s unlikely an Edwardian-era father would clean and make a spaghetti dinner, but readers won’t mind. It’s a sure thing that listeners in laps will enjoy pointing out the messy details. (Picture book. 3-7)
