Books Aren’t for Eating

A caprine bookseller communicates literature’s creative and conceptual value to a book-hungry shopper in this playful tale for bibliophiles. Leopold, a bespectacled white billy goat, loves cozy sweaters and the written word. He’s also fond of making selections for customers—“each fit its reader snugly and warmly, like a sweater.” His curatorial instincts falter, however, when another buck wanders into the shop in search of titles to chomp. “This is going on your bill,” says Leopold, pictured waving a half-eaten tome through the shop window. A suggestion inspired by Leopold’s own book-munching days turns things around, and concluding vignettes show the hungry patron metaphorically “filling up” on stories. Employing gouache and digital techniques, Montoya uses earthy tones to craft warm scenes of various creatures browsing the shelves. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)