Summertime Song Book

One warm summer night, a frog jumped into Lucy's room with an invitation for her to a birthday party and a magic paper party hat. Lucy put it on, and out in the garden, when a moonbeam touched the hat, Lucy was as little as a leaf. So begins Lucy's wonderful adventure.

A taxi driven by Baby Bird, who is afraid to fly, picks Lucy up to take her to the party. On the way, they stop for Madame Mouse, wearing a brand new hat she's made; an inch-worm determined to get to the party in time to have some birthday cake; and a tiny tattered old doll whose owner, for whom he still longs, had lost him in the shadows of moonlight long ago. But suddenly, a huge owl blocks their way — and he wants them all for his supper! Will they escape? Will they get to the party? Will the tiny doll ever be reunited with his beloved owner?

In a lovely, lyrical text, the story unfolds to its happy ending. The magical pictures, painted with intricate detail and subtle colors, bring the moonlit garden world to life. This is an extraordinary book of great beauty and vivid imagination that small children and adults will look at again and again, discovering new wonders and surprises as they look. It is a treasure by the widely known and loved author/artist of The Maggie B.

Publishers Weekly

An oversize, square format right away announces that this book is special, and the contents live up to the heightened expectations. The storya sweet fantasy about a magical birthday party held in a moonlit gardenis well-told if not wholly original, but Haas (The Maggie B.) wraps it up in gorgeous illustrations whose sumptuous imagery and sultry compositions virtually define romance and mystery. On a summer night, Lucy receives a frog's invitation to a party, dons the paper hat he brings her and shrinks ("FOOF!") until she is "as little as a leaf." She hops into a taxi driven by a baby bird, who subsequently picks up other party-goers, among them a doll that once belonged to Lucy's grandmother and has been lost for decades; the doll and its owner are reunited at the end la William Joyce's The Leaf Men. The characters throughout are colorfully individuated through varied, distinctive speech patterns, and Haas adds a soupon of suspense via an owl intent on finding his dinner. The art is spellbindingly lavish: a softly glowing black background, a strewing of velvety flowers and papery leaves, a doll-like Lucy and a host of inviting, finely detailed creatures. Haas mingles these elements with deceptive ease, and punctuates her full-page art with small vignettes that decorate facing pages of text. A treasury of images, this is a book to savor. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)