Starred Review In measured rhyme, Pinfold (Black Dog, 2012) tells the story of Mr. Barleycorn, a man who brings home an odd green baby he found on his land. His wife wants him to get rid of it, but "You cannot return for a refund. / A baby is not like a hat. / What's picked is picked, what's done is done, / and that, Barleycorns, is that." So, despite his wife's complaints, Mr. Barleycorn gives the baby a pile of dirt for a bed and lets him grow d soon, nature begins to run wild. The Greenling's influence seeps throughout the Barleycorn's house: trees grow over their television, lavender surrounds their bed, and grass and sunflowers sprout out of the walls and the telephone. When the townspeople, angry that their plants are taking over, call for the Barleycorns to get rid of the child, Mrs. Barleycorn changes her mind: "We should welcome this Greenling into our house, / we've been living in his all along!" The rhyme scheme is gentle and soothing, and Pinfold's luminous mixed-media illustrations are gloriously strange. This fable about the power of the outside world and the balance between technology and nature is important, and the story itself is haunting and austere.