Hilda Hen's Happy Birthday

Wormell follows up on her splendid debut (Hilda Hen's Search) with this equally charming picture book. Serenely confident that she's finding birthday offerings at every turn, Hilda wreaks havoc across the farmyard, eating the horse's oats and the gardener's apples, enjoying a dust bath in the pansy patch, helping herself to tea and cookies-only to discover her real birthday treats on a poultry roost. Hilda's satisfaction as she blithely leaves her trail of destruction is sure to wring giggles from a preschool audience. As before, Wormell's masterful linocuts have a timeless air, and the bold lines and sunny colors radiate good cheer. Ages 2-6. (Mar.)