My Little Thief

A comically tricky interspecies friendship marks this uneven picture book, a children’s debut from Burroughs (Running with Scissors, for adults). While eating lunch in her backyard, young Chloe, who’s shown with red hair and pale skin, notices an inordinately attentive crow, “so black and shiny he looked like glass.” Chloe’s no fan of birds, but the two embark on an extended exchange of tokens when, with a stomp of its claw, Crow seems to request a bite of the child’s sandwich. Chloe offers Crow food and soft yarn scraps; Crow brings Chloe bric-a-brac including “a bottle cap, and a purple ribbon just long enough to fit around her wrist.” But one of the bird’s gifts, a bright turquoise earring, lands Chloe in hot water when a classmate says it was appropriated from a bathroom windowsill. Is it theft—or just a crow being a crow? An extended catalog of Chloe’s traits and backstory gets the story off to a slow start, but Crow’s entrance energizes the lines, and mixed-media, cartoon animation–style art by Lui (ABC of Feelings) develops Chloe’s individuality and openness to the world around her. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Christopher Schelling, Selectric Artists. Illustrator’s agent: Nicole Tugeau, Tugeau 2. (Mar.)