The dreamlike, illogical quality of the text may pass over the heads of the preschool crowd (despite the parceling out of a few words per page); it's Sandford's (Tale of a Tail) art that's cause for celebration at this birthday party. "It was an ordinary day," begins Selkowe (Spring Green), tipping off readers to the extraordinary things in store. A bunny finds in his mailbox "a key/ which opened the gate that led through the garden/ to the great pink house" where a surprise party awaits him. Sandford grounds the enigmatic text with familiar flourishes. He populates the pink house with rosy-cheeked dolls that dance with a dapper brown bear, and three wide-eyed little pigs who can't wait to get their snouts on a rose- and candle-festooned cake. Working in muted tones that cast a scrimlike quality on the surface, the artist composes full-bleed, double-page watercolors from subtly distorted angles and close-ups, and embellishes them with extravagant, painterly detail—such as drawing every leaf on the vine that braids through the pink house's ornate gate. Such tangible touches may be just enough to aid readers with the abstract twists of the tale. Ages 3-up. (June)
