Happy Face/Sad Face: All Kinds of Child Faces!

Punchy rhymes, irreverent cartooning, and a multiracial cast of babies introduce terms like happy, sad, asleep, and awake. Despite the title, Cotter (Beard in a Box) is more focused on opposite pairs than on what some of the faces look like; readers don’t even see the faces of a girl mid-jump (“up face”) or a baby with a kitchen pot on its head (“hidden in a pot face”). But Cotter’s brash cartoons and the goofy energy of his rhymes create a solid atmosphere of fun, and an inset mirror lets readers show off their own faces at book’s end. Available simultaneously: Little Face/Big Face. Ages 1–4. Agent: Brianne Johnson, Writers House. (Sept.)