So cozy

PreS-Gr 1-Dog just wants to take a nap in his cozy bed. A goose wanders up and decides to join him and then a myriad of other animals follow suit including a herd of rabbits, a bear and her cubs, and even a massive elephant. Each subsequent creature declares the scene "cozy" and pile on top of one another in a comical fashion. The tipping point occurs when a little mouse climbs on top of Elephant's trunk, causing a massive sneeze and the disbursement of all and sundry. Deciding this group nap was not such a great idea, each animal exits the scene with such exclamations as "too sneezy" and "so scary." The tale ends with Dog and Mouse curling up and declaring it "so cozy." Korda's illustrations, washed in warm colors rendered in gouache, pencil, and crayon, give off a contented feel. Children will have fun watching each animal's expression go from pleasure, as they join Dog in his bed, to irritation as each additional animal joins the sleepy bunch. VERDICT A supplemental cumulative tale for most collections.-Amy Nolan, St. Joseph Public Library, St. Joseph, MI (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A little black-and-white dog loves his warm, comfy bed, and he doesnt even seem to mind sharing it with Goose. But then Cat wants to share in the coziness, followed by rabbits, and Mommy Bear with Baby Bear. In this riff on the Ukrainian folktale The Mitten, the animals just keep coming, including a goat, a snake, and even an elephant (WOW, THATS WHAT I CALL COZY!) until the inevitable tickly explosion of a huge sneeze (brought on by little Mouse). The gouache, pencil, and crayon illustrations show the pile of animals on top of the small oval dog bed getting taller and taller, with the occupants displaying various degrees of discomfort and worry until they all go tumbling through the air -- So trumpety! squawked Goose. At the end, Dogs bed has been flattened, but he enjoys the quiet after all of the animals -- except one -- have run away. Korda gives variety to the pages by changing the background color of each spread, helping a young child focus on picking out each of the animals and on predicting the action to come. She also plays with the endpapers, showing just Dogs paw prints at the beginning and a whole array of tracks at the end for children to match to their owners. Its made for storytime, with plenty of appeal for a cozy one-on-one reading, too. susan dove lempke(c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.