ARE YOU QUITE POLITE?

Supplying new lyrics for 14 familiar tunes, Katz presents examples of behavior both good and bad, paired with Catrow’s characteristic, garishly colored scenes of bulbous headed figures quizzically or gleefully regarding spectacular messes. Covering topics from nose-picking and unfettered sneezing (to the tune “Man On the Flying Trapeze”)—“When Pete goes, ‘Ah-choo,’ / Everybody yells, ‘Freeze!’ / There’s no superglue / Stick-i-er than his sneeze / the worst part is, he always sneezes in threes / No wonder the town moved away!”—to writing timely thank-you notes and putting a sock in it while at the library, the entries will induce hilarity (and who knows, maybe even a little contrition) whether read (sung) aloud or silently. Like Jane Yolen’s How Do Dinosaurs series, illustrated by Mark Teague, think of this as required reading for Goops—young or otherwise. (Picture book/poetry. 6-9)