Shortly after the Quimby family moves into a cobwebby old house, Nana Quimby must leap onto her unsteady pink rocker to avoid a four-footed interloper. " 'Eeek—a mouse!
' cried Nana Quimby. 'I cannot have a mouse in the house!
' " To remedy the situation, Father Quimby buys an owl from the pet shop, and "the mouse ran away to a cheese factory. Father gave the owl a bowl of onions for a job well done." Unfortunately, Nana hates owls ("I cannot have an owl in the house!
"), so Mother Quimby gets a dog to scare the owl into the woods, and rewards the dog with a jelly donut. Predictably, Nana dislikes the dog, and further disapproves of the series of animals—from an alligator to a tiger to an elephant—that follow. The tale comes full circle when the Quimbys use a certain rodent to get rid of the elephant, and a flustered Nana heads off to Florida, where she relaxes among hummingbirds in a sultry tropical garden. The Hassetts (Three Silly Girls Grubb
) favor a folk-art style for their middle-distance paintings. Their cool colors include the lavender of Nana's polka-dot dress, the sage green of the kitchen table, the pale pink of a linoleum floor and the milky blue of the enameled refrigerator. While the palette may not be to every taste, the Hassetts nicely handle the escalating tension. They show the Quimbys rewarding each animal "for a job well done," then follow up with Nana's inevitable howls of protest. In this cyclical sequence, the Hassetts raise the stakes with every spread. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)
