T
his effervescent collaboration introduces a spunky girl who embarks on fanciful adventures with Stanley, her old gray stuffed rabbit. One day, as Emily and Stanley are “launching themselves into outer space to look for alien life-forms,” the chief footman to Queen Gloriana the Third arrives at the door, announcing that the royal wants Emily’s bunny in exchange for a new gold teddy bear. Deeming the bear “horrible” (“It had staring eyes and no smile at all”), the outraged lass politely refuses the offer. Next, while the duo is motorbiking through the Sahara, an army captain extends the queen’s new terms: in exchange for Stanley, she’ll give Emily the teddy and 10 dolls that say “Mama, Mama.” Still no deal. After the navy and the air force attempt to bribe the unyielding girl, special commandos sneak into her bedroom one night and steal Stanley. The infuriated youngster storms into the castle, where she rescues Stanley (miserable from the queen’s attempts to clean him up) and hands the young monarch the new gold teddy, instructing her to play and sleep with him, and to “be sure to have lots of adventures. And then maybe one day you will wake up with a real toy of your OWN.” Cowell (How to Be a Pirate
) slyly slips a worthy message into her whimsical tale, which is given ample comic dimension by Neal’s (Oscar and Arabella
) zany and inventive mixed-media illustrations. Ages 3-7. (Apr.)
