EGG-NAPPED!

Montes (Juan Bobo Goes to Work, 2000, etc.) takes a wild-goose chase literally in this rousing, if at times slapdash, versified story. It begins with the Gabblers and the entire woodland gang, celebrating the arrival of their first egg. As they are kicking up their feet, the egg goes on an undetected roll. (Their cry of “egg-nap!” could be disconcerting if young readers hadn’t seen the egg impart on its journey.) Soon the egg is spied in the clutches of a tortoise, who claims its ownership, but a sly flying squirrel sneaks it away. But then she drops it and a hawk scoops it up (“This egg—is it goose?— / will taste great in a stew”), only to meet the wrath of Mrs. Gabbler. There is a close shave, but the egg is saved, and sure enough a little goosekins comes cracking out. Montes’s verse stumbles and falls flat on occasion—“Some ran left, some ran right; / others jumped all the while. / But the animals crashed / and collapsed in a pile”—though it generally clips along at a lively pace, and by its nature the story enthralls. The animated goofiness of Winborn’s (Probably Pistachio, 2001, etc.) illustrations gives the right touch of squawking energy to the tale, too. (Picture book. 3-6)