A SNOUT FOR CHOCOLATE

The second of “Grandpa Spanielson’s Chicken Pox Stories” matches the first, Octopus (January 2005), for rib-tickling, comfy charm. Young Barney, speckled with chicken pox, rests uncomfortably in bed until Grandpa, sent outside by Grandma to wash windows, climbs a ladder to Barney’s room and regales the pup with a distracting tale from his supposed days as Fire Chief. This one’s about the time he and the crew rescued broad-beamed Mrs. Piggerman from her freezer after her snout stuck to an icy box of chocolates. Hysterical. Fledgling readers will happily sit down with the floppy-eared patient to hear Grandpa’s sly embedded yarn—finished off to cozy perfection with a cup of hot cocoa brought in at the end by Grandma. While no one wishes Barney’s chicken pox to last forever, readers will certainly want Grandpa’s tales to keep on making them laugh even if they have to become Grandpa’s head-cold stories. (Easy reader. 5-7)