Little Donkey and the Baby-Sitter

Nanny Hen, Little Donkey's baby-sitter for the evening, is a caregiver very much in the mold of Eloise's beloved Nanny. Clothed in an elegant, Margaret Dumont–esque gown, the pleasingly matronly nanny does not mind indulging her young charge when it enables her to similarly indulge herself (after making Little Donkey French fries for dinner, she pilfers a chunk of cheese from the family fridge). And she takes a cheerily lackadaisical approach that easily accommodates her charge's cravings for mischief and cries of "Mama always lets me" (or its variant, "Mama never makes me"). While the text seems clear about Little Donkey's character, it gives no hint of whether Nanny is clueless or—as one suspects from the artwork—dumb as a fox. Van Haeringen's pictures bubble with a knowing playfulness (and may remind older readers of James Stevenson). With a sprightly ink line, washes of sunny colors and a theatrical sense of composition (much of the action takes place with Nanny Hen firmly planted on the family sofa), the artist not only endows the characters with real personalities, but also provides the story with much of its emotional arc. Nanny Hen and Little Donkey start out by displaying a gamesmanship worthy of the savviest negotiators; by the time Little Donkey's mother has come back from the movies, the protagonists' give-and-take has evolved into a sweetly comic pas de deux. Ages 3-up. (Apr.)