Slug roundup

Sluggy Slug just won't go. What if Sluggy Slug is bribed with sweets? Will Sluggy Slug remain true to character, even when confronted with the powerful temptation of refined white sugar?

That's pretty much the whole story of Sluggy Slug. And yet, it's enough. It's the rare easy reader board book that's droll enough to make up for the extremely limited vocabulary.

Funny thing about slugs -- so unappealing to step on barefoot (even worse in socks) and yet so charming in a children's book. Or as a stuffed animal. Or both -- as in Bunny Party, one of the many Max and Ruby stories by Rosemary Wells.

Formulaic? Yes, but it's not about the story. It's about Max's party guests, including Can't-Sit-Up-Slug, who ends up slumped on the table.

It figures. How like a slug.

Pirate Girl

Not everything Cornelia Funke writes is 500 pages long. She's also written a number of picture books for young children --not all of them very good.

But here's one that is. The story is a simple one. Fearsome pirates make a mistake when they capture a little girl named Molly, who is off on a trip to visit her grandmother. Despite being cruelly mistreated, she refuses to cooperate and quietly plots her escape.

To describe the resolution would be to spoil the book. But it's that rarest of things: a girl-power book that charms me and my seven-year-old both.