I Always, Always Get My Way

At first, three-year-old Emmy gets away with peccadilloes like spilling orange juice on her dad’s trousers and using her older sister’s art materials (“Mom told her she should share with me./ After all... I’m only three”), pinning the blame on her siblings. But when her shenanigans spiral out of control (an early morning ice cream feast, setting loose her brother’s pet lizard, causing the bathtub to overflow), her family wises up. “Mom pointed to the stairs and said,/ 'That’s it, young lady!/ GO TO BED!’ ” British illustrator Parkins (Dick King-Smith’s Sophie books) works in cartoon-style ink and wash, using vignettes to focus on Emmy’s yowls of indignation and insouciant smiles and having fun with Emmy’s more elaborate misdeeds. Newcomer Krasnesky writes tightly disciplined verse that never flags, sprinkled with parenthetical asides and modern phrases (“ 'That’s SO not true, Mom,’ Suzie said”). Mischievous Emmy is a little too manipulative and self-serving to sympathize with completely—but that doesn’t make her any less authentic a character. This is a fast-moving crowd-pleaser made for reading aloud. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)