Crick, Crack, Crow!

Sisters Lord and Paschkis team up to produce this onomatopoeic story about a curious American crow that likes to “stir up trouble.” As the bird flits from adventure to adventure—each spread shows a new incident in Crow’s day—the text repeats the memorable titular phrase. Crow first spies a shiny button on a garment hanging on a clothesline: “Crick, crack, crow!/ What do you know?” Depicted in the illustrator’s calligraphic ink line, Crow deposits the button in a tree hollow, then flies on, scattering songbirds, snatching a piece of cat kibble, and briefly getting trapped in a dark barn after opening the latch (“Crick, crack, fear./ What’s in here?”). When a hawk threatens to attack, Crow’s family gathers to chase it away: “They dive and dip. Flap and swerve. Swoop and plunge.” That’s enough trouble for one day in this elegant catalog of crow behaviors supplied through a single character. Back matter includes additional crow facts. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)