The Hueys in It Wasn’t Me

Jeffers’s first book about the Hueys quietly extolled the virtues of nonconformity; with equal subtlety (and a touch of dark humor) he explores disagreement in this sequel. “The thing about the Hueys,” Jeffers writes of his egg-shaped, stick-legged crew, “was that most of the time they got along.” But when they fight—Jeffers depicts their argument as a joint speech bubble filled with scribbles, scrawls, storm cloud, hammer, and skull-and-crossbones—it’s up to a Huey named Gillespie to set things right. What’s his trick? Distraction. “Want to see a dead fly?” he asks, and everyone does, naturally. A stylish and sophisticated story that reminds readers that some fights aren’t worth having. Ages 3–5. (Jan.)