Little Burro

Like many human children, Little Burro is a fierce creature of habit; her “favorite place” is actually the only place she’s ever known: the rocky canyon hillside where she was born (“Breezy and cool in the middle of the hot desert day... and warm and cozy at night, when the sun had gone away”). When the burros decide to leave, the exceptionally adorable Little Burro is the very picture of “No”: Arnosky (Shimmer and Splash) draws her sitting squarely on her bottom, her back turned to readers and her ears stuck out in defiance. But when Little Burro sees the destination—a huge canyon lake—and spends a day splashing around (the scenes bring to mind vintage vacation postcards in their coloring and comedy), she considers that maybe a burro can have two favorite places. Arnosky has taken readers to a wealth of landscapes and habitats over the years, but the Southwestern desert setting evoked in these pages is particularly well suited to his calm, straightforward prose and lightly romanticized naturalism. Ages 3–5. Agent: Susan Schulman, Susan Schulman Literary Agency. (Sept.)