British author Wallace (Flower Girl) features a messy toddler and his angelic sister in this moralistic portrayal of misbehavior. Once he dons a dragon suit, Timothy, "the sweetest boy in all the world," becomes "Monster Toddler! The rascalliest boy in the world!" Fellow toddlers will be tickled by scenes in which the scaly hero scatters toy trucks and crayons, plagues his sister, Charlotte, tries to bite the cat and ends up all by himself. Wallace's pastel watercolor and black line illustrations fill the pages with innocent mayhem as Timothy literally and figuratively boxes himself into a corner. Timothy's caped sister, aka "Wonder Charlotte," wearing blue star-patterned pants and pink-and-white–striped T-shirt, comes to the tyke's rescue: "I will help you, Monster Toddler, but only if you start to be good!" Wallace then details Timothy's reformation in appropriate spot art as the boy learns to "sit quietly and not leap out" (by sitting next to his sister in an overstuffed armchair) and "how to be kind and gentle" (he lets go of the cat's tail). Unfortunately, the sugary message detracts from the toddler hero's benign mischief, carried out in the safety of his own room. Ages 2-5. (June)
