Lizard's Home

From Publishers Weekly This lively sequel to Lizard's Song will have preschoolers cheering for the book's small but intrepid hero. When Lizard finds Snake curled up on his rock, he says politely, "I'm afraid you've made a mistake. Everybody knows this rock is my home." But the arrogant Snake answers with a hiss, "I don't make mistakes. I found it. I'll keep it." After trying various strategies (wishing, taking the rock back in Snake's absence), Lizard gets Snake to agree to a contest, and then, knowing Snake will cheat, outwits him. Aruego and Dewey's characteristic art, favoring high-intensity colors and cartoonlike lines, supports a cast of appealing and expressive characters. The menacing glint of his eyes signals right away that the red-and-orange striped Snake is a villain through and through, while sweet Lizard, true to his nature, does not even gloat at the end. Buoyant and affirming, especially for children who have had to deal with their own snakes in the grass. Ages 4-up. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From School Library Journal Kindergarten-Grade 2 In Lizard's Song (Mulberry, 1992), the rhapsodizing reptile had to wrest his favorite rock home from a dim bulb of a bear. Here, in a playful sequel, Lizard's home is again a stone of contention when a squatter snake sets his determined coils upon it and claims ownership. Piteous pleas bring only hard-hearted responses from the squatter, "I don't make mistakes. I found it. I'll keep it. It suits me fine," until Lizard issues a challenge that Snake feels he can win by cheating. Of course, crafty Lizard outwits him in the end. Shannon's bouncy text is echoed in Aruego and Dewey's ebullient watercolors of flower-filled landscapes and colorful critters, and Lizard's new wishing song will roll off the tongue as trippingly as his original hit tune. Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.