THE SECRET PLAN

Milo the elephant and his kitten next-door neighbors, Hildy, Henry and Harriet, love to play together. However, their adventures are continually curtailed by calls of “Lunch!”, “Dinner!” or, most disagreeably, “Bedtime!” Milo’s secret plan engenders lots of hiding, but their parents always find the friends. (It is hard to hide an elephant child.) Hildy remembers Milo’s furry monster feet from Halloween. After feigning sleep, Milo dons them, softly padding upstairs to join the kittens in a big, treasure-filled attic. “It was the perfect late-night no-bedtime-ever hideout.” They try on hats, study a book on Morse code and sip tea before tiring—with one more plan in store. Sarcone-Roach’s brushy, full-bleed acrylics alternate warm and cool colors and provide plenty of humorous detail, including a mouse hidden within each double-page spread. The front endpapers depict 4610 A and B South 6th Street as a faux architectural drawing; the back ones present the Morse code, arrayed like stars around a cross-section of the sleeping house. Sweet fun. (Picture book. 3-6)