Pete and Leonie: The Great Baby Swap

Through small, silvery gray vignettes with rainbow-colored undertones, Poster (The Night Wild) tells two stories at once in this funny trading-places tale. Pete is a coyote pup who’s unexpectedly quiet and polite, and Leonie’s an obstreperous human infant lacking in decorousness. The way Pete freshens his bed daily with a clean fern frond puzzles his mother, who likes to “roll in dead things and howl at the moon.” Baby Leonie, meanwhile, upsets her heights-fearing father by scaling a tall ladder in the barn. Following the sound of a growl, and discarding a pesky diaper along the way, Leonie finds herself ensconced in the canine’s den. Hearing strains of music, Pete steals into the crib by Papa’s bed. While the parents sense something’s not quite right, they’re pleased with their newly compliant offspring as Leonie (now “Pete”) is shown having the time of her life in the forest, while Pete (“Leonie,” dressed in baby clothes) spends the day dozing. The parallel tales carry the same thistledown fantasy feel as characteristics are missed, identities are revealed, and everything resolves as neatly as a Shakespearean comedy. Human characters’ skin reflects the white of the book’s pages. Ages 3–7. (Aug.)