Goldie

Goldie and her mom--a chick and hen duo--fly the coop one day and end up at the Big Store. Goldie's mother wants to find a dress, but Goldie doesn't want to stay in the changing room--so she leaves. Back in the main store, she tips over a mannequin. Her mother routes her back to the changing room again, and once more, Goldie departs on her own, this time scaring the other customers by toddling out wearing a hat that completely covers her. When Goldie and her mother are finally reunited, the chick picks out a snazzy pair of sunglasses and they call ita day. Rubel, the illustrator of the Rotten Ralph books, has created a book in arresting colors and bold shapes; Goldie's panic in the last frames of the book is childlike, and reassuringly resolved. But the story seems watered-down and contrived, and it lacks pizzazz. Ages 3-7. (Sept.)