Dumpy La Rue

Despite all sorts of well-intentioned advice to discourage him ("'Pigs don't dance,' said his mother. 'They bellow, they swallow, they learn how to wallow'"), Dumpy can't ignore the tantalizing beat he hears in his head: "He twirled in the sty, raised his snout to the sky, spread his hooves far and wide, and pretended to fly." Not surprisingly, an at-first-reluctant barnyard audience begins to catch on, first the sheep--"'We want to dance too,' cried the sheep. 'It looks like fun. Why should he be the only one?'"--then even, eventually, Poppa Pig himself.

A fun and muddy romp, with plenty of glissades and jetés, Dumpy La Rue ably displays the talents of Elizabeth Winthrop (of The Castle in the Attic fame) and firecracker illustrator Betsy Lewin, returning to the farm after her Caldecott Honor winner Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (Ages 4 to 8) Paul Hughes