SPIKE AND IKE TAKE A HIKE

Wacky wordplay accompanies a hedgehog and a coatimundi as they walk to lunch at Cousin Rosa’s.

A cheerful pair of cartoonlike critters, Spike and Ike (named and identified only in the cataloging summary), improbably travel through a flowery meadow, along an island beach, across a buggy bog and into a savannah in their quest for food. On their way, they meet a busy bumblebee, a pair of birds, frogs, a cat and a giraffe with a calf—a fine lunch bunch. As they pass through the generic landscapes, they converse simply in speech bubbles. Wordplay describing their trip runs on a ribbon along the bottom. In a career that has spanned over 30 years, Schindler has illustrated well over 100 picture and chapter books but almost never written the text himself. Readers will be happy he has taken this path. The tongue-twisting nature of the read-aloud text adds to the humor. Its rhyme and alliteration may help emerging readers, and the animals are shown clearly in the artist’s deft illustrations. Even if readers or listeners have never before encountered a “blue-footed booby baby bird,” they won’t forget this one.

Here’s hoping the happy pair have more adventures to come.