THE VERY BEST DOOR

This birthday tale from a Dutch team touts the importance of friendship. While delivering invitations to his own birthday party door to door, Evan, a badger, tells his friend Pip, a porcupine, "Your door is the very best door of all." So, after wracking his brain for the perfect gift (and after delectable spreads of Pip poring over the choices), Pip decides to give the actual door to his porcupine pad to Evan as a present; with a great deal of fuss, he removes it from his house, wraps it with a big bow and carts it off to the party. No, no, explains Evan when presented with the gift. "Your door is the very best door of all… only because you are my very best friend of all." Cate's understated pictures keep the one-joke text afloat. Her animals exude a sweet, easygoing demeanor (except, that is, for a fowl who eyes Evan through a peephole with all the wariness of a seasoned urban dweller) and she politely keeps Evan's compliment out of earshot of the other guests. The full-bleed, double-spread layouts have enough dense, textured color and verve to keep the story moving to its quiet punchline. Ages 2-6. (Apr.)