cover image Z-Z-Zoink!

Z-Z-Zoink!

Bernard Most. Harcourt Children's Books, $14 (40pp) ISBN 978-0-15-292845-2

This one-joke paper-over-board book about a snoring pig who can't find a place to bed down for the night follows a simple pattern. After being kicked out of various homes by sleep-deprived pigs, cows, ducks and people, the pig finds a place with the barn owls, who stay awake all night anyway and greet her ""Z-z-zoink!"" with a ""Who?"" Most (A Pair of Protoceratops) has a good eye for strong graphics: he sets off the herds and flocks of animals (with one eye open all night and paws or hooves clapped over their offended ears) with flat, patterned backgrounds, and outlines the shapes with heavy, often scalloped lines. Despite the book's roundabout route to the punch line, children will enjoy chiming in on the animal sounds, and the crowds of animal faces are amusing. Ages 2-6. (May)