HERE’S WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU CAN’T FIND YOUR SHOE

Enlisting the aid of Snow, creator of the modern classic, How Dogs Really Work (1993), Perry addresses a dozen common problems, from losing a shoe to carrying multiple packages in the rain, from walking a pet giraffe to cleaning between one’s toes. Most of her solutions involve contraptions such as the “Maximumbrella,” or the “Acme Super Spider Spotter”—the exceptions being “Veggie Be Gone,” a spray that sends vegetables shooting out of the shopping cart, “Filbert’s Footsie Floss” (see above), and the energetic crew of “Stink Stoppers,” specialists in removing animal odors. “When pumas are putrid, we powder their paws, / Once eagles have eaten, we clean off their claws, / We bathe every bobcat, perfume every pen. / We wipe down each walrus again and again.” Snow renders each Rube Goldberg–esque device in loving, baroque detail, and shows it in action too, wielded by smiling, satisfied cartoon customers. After children finish chortling, they may be tempted to design their own thingamajigs in the wake of this droll debut. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10)