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February 1, 2015
A family of cave swallows decides that its nest is too small.Ten brother and sister birds pile high atop one another, squeezing beak to beak and feather to feather to fit inside the nest. If only they had a bigger home! Then there would there be room for everybody, not to mention extra airspace for Rupert's smelly feet and Cecil's wheezy bagpipe notes. Big brother Burt and big sister Pippi set off to find a brand new-big-place to live. Unfortunately, it is not as easy as they hoped. The first spot, which seems nice and sturdy, is actually the shell of a turtle. The second, which appears soft and fluffy, happens to be on the back of a very bouncy cheetah. They go through many options-too pointy, too tall, too squishy, too...hungry (gulp)-until finally (as predicted with the title wordplay) they find their original home is where they belong. It is of course difficult to not draw immediate parallels to the timeless classic The Best Nest, by P.D. Eastman, especially given the avian theme, but Dicmas' expressive, paint-splotched birds have an adventurous spirit all their own. A few choppy parts lead to an uneven read-aloud, but the page-turn reveals are their own reward. (Picture book. 3-6)

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January 1, 2015

PreS-Gr 1-In a family of cave swallows, big brother Burt and big sister Pippi think their nest is too packed to share with their eight active siblings, so they set off to find another place to live. They land in several possible spots that turn out to be unsuitable-a sturdy but hard turtle's shell, a fluffy but too fast cheetah's back, and other unaccommodating animals. Eventually they decide that the best home is their own crowded but comfortable nest. The fanciful gouache, acrylic, and colored pencil drawings of polka-dotted birds and animals vary from super close-ups of Burt and Pippi (meaning readers won't be able to see what animal the birds are standing on) to wider shots that reveal why these choices would not make suitable homes. However, one can't help but wonder why all the possible homes involve other animals, instead of more obvious options, such as a tree or rooftop. Although the art is perky, the story doesn't hold up against P. D. Eastman's classic The Best Nest (Random, 1968).-Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT

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