THE ROYAL NAP

King Gordo insists that his castle be totally silent each day at one o'clock so he can take his nap—and he's very cranky if he doesn't get it. Starting with that delicious premise, this book perfectly suits a preschooler's sense of humor. Gerald, a lowly pot-scrubber, disturbs the king's rest with his hiccups and is banished to the Cold and Snowy Land; his daughter Phoebe, a plate- scraper, gets the sentence revoked by singing a woeful ballad that unfailingly sends the king off to sleep. Stevenson's mirthful cartoons, with their various animal characters, mesh nicely with Black's droll text. Full of extravagant gestures and wacky sound effects, this work is genuinely funny and never once aims over the head of its audience. (Picture book. 3-8)