MY SISTER'S RUSTY BIKE
by Jim Aylesworth & illustrated by Richard Hull
Aylesworth (Wake Up, Little Children, p. 856, etc.) has again teamed up with Hull (his collaborator on The Cat and The Fiddle and More, 1992, etc.) for a wild ride through the country: ``I once rode around America/On my sister's rusty bike./I found some crazy places and/Some folks I think you'll like.'' A visit to Massachusetts yields cats with purple fur, West Virginia features pink pet sheep, Indiana has blue-spotted cows, and Oklahoma has a horse who loves TV. Arizona is home to some sweets-loving snakes, while California stars a crow who quotes ``Edgar Poe.'' Each state's attractions are more wacky than the next (and more nonsensical, with more comedic impact than links to specific states or regions), and all are perfectly complemented by Hull's highly detailed gouache paintings of landscapes and faces (not to mention chickens) that show what happens when Grant Wood meets Technicolor. A quirky and wonderful journey. (Picture book. 5-8)