DOWN DAIRY FARM ROAD
by C.L.G. Martin & illustrated by Diane Dawson Hearn
By the author of The Dragon Nanny (1988), a neatly plotted tale about one Junie Mae, a small girl who hopes, while making the rounds with Grandpa (an old-time country animal doctor), to get enough money to have a perm, like ``snooty Lucinda Bodine.'' Junie Mae's hopes are buoyed when she's given five kittens at Grandpa's first stop; but though she finds several takers, no one can pay for a kitten—except Lucinda. Suddenly, Junie Mae has a change of heart: she can't sell a kitten to Lucinda, who doesn't even care for her new bike; instead, she'll give them to those who want them. Unexpectedly, just like her Grandpa, she gets in trade not money but some other useful things, including a new hairdo, consisting of a stylish braid that makes her look ``positively eight...maybe nine.'' Dawson's expressively skewed perspectives, sly characterizations, and whimsical details give her illustrations a jaunty air that's right in the spirit of the good-humored narrative. (Picture book/Young reader. 5-8)