I LOVE YOU! A BUSHEL AND A PECK

A duckling farmer tries to let his lady love know how he feels about her as they work the farm. He calls her in the middle of the night, skywrites X’s and O’s, serenades her, and finally takes her on vacation as the farm animals run amok. Wells’s unmistakable pudgy, open-faced characters, flirty ducklings this time, cavort, bounce, race, and promenade around a farmyard in this bucolic interpretation of Loesser’s song from the Broadway show Guys & Dolls. The text, adapted from the lyrics, winds across some pages, fills frames on others, and forms the frames on still others, all the while suggesting a musical rhythm. Toddlers will get caught up in the exuberance, and parents will wonder why they never noticed the Mother Goose quality of the song as they tap their feet. Backmatter includes the actual words and music for adventuresome presenters. (Picture book. 2-7)