cover image Millie Waits for the Mail

Millie Waits for the Mail

Alexander Steffensmeier, . . Walker & Co., $16.95 (24pp) ISBN 978-0-8027-9662-2

As determined and beguiling as those click-clacking cows that type, Steffensmeier's bovine heroine may be even funnier. Like any self-respecting toddler who likes to say BOO, Millie lies in wait for the mailman every day, for the pure, unadulterated pleasure of scaring him. While the text is both lively and concise, most of the book's considerable charm emanates from the droll visual humor. The barnyard teems with curious chickens and amusing details, unrelated to the story thread, which children will love to search out. A bird in swimming shorts dives from a bird house into a tractor shovel filled with water (and a tiny life saver). The no-nonsense female farmer peruses elegant fashion in Farmer Vogue magazine. A miniature elephant drinks beneath a water pump. But chief among the visual bounties are Millie's hiding places. She lolls in the mud with the pigs or wears a flowerpot on her head as she lurks behind the potting shed plants. Only her tail and horns peek over the edge of an outside bathtub, and then, wearing swimming goggles, she bursts from the tub, startling the mailman with her loud MOO. Here's one import (from Germany) that loses nothing in translation. Ages 4-7. (Aug.)