You Make Me Sneeze!

The creators’ comic follow-up to You Are Not a Cat! finds pals Cat and Duck in a touchy quandary. When Duck can’t stop sneezing, and its beak and eyes itch (“If I had toes they’d be itching, too,” Flake writes), Duck reasons that it’s become allergic to Cat, which does not bode well for the pair’s camping trip. Determined to nix the symptoms, Duck insists that Cat cover its fur in a sleeping bag, wear a pot on its head, and sing to Duck to alleviate the bird’s suffering. Cat grudgingly acquiesces, even as Duck’s demands seem both ridiculous and ineffective. When flowers from Cat’s garden are pinpointed as the real cause of the trouble, Duck seems genuinely touched by the idea that the two can now “walk and talk and spend every day together—forever.” (Admirably patient Cat has one response: “Oh, my.”) Digitally assembled ink, pen, and pencil illustrations by Raff contrast the sylvan setting—depicted in soft textures, grassy tones, and simple shapes—with the characters’ escalating, and very sibling-like, interplay. Ages 3–7. (Feb.)