Mary's little lamb becomes a village child's goats in this quirky, Kenya-set tale of making pumpkin vegetable soup. The story opens with children picking vegetables from a community garden. "But where is Kioni?" Kioni is looking for her goats. Suddenly, the text turns into a familiar rhyme, adapted to reflect its setting in an unnamed Kenyan village. Kioni's goats "with hair of calico" almost eat the vegetables, but they make a better contribution to the soup instead (never fear: It's just their milk). Textured collage illustrations combining natural materials and painted images show the busy children, the corn, pumpkin, sweet potato and other vegetables that make up the soup, and Kioni's calico-haired goats. The simple text is set on harvest-toned pages opposite full-bleed pictures. At one point, two consecutive images carry the action. Two double-page spreads emphasize highlights: goats in the garden ("GO!") and, at the end, goats and children each eating their appropriate foods. The story concludes with a recipe. Fullerton, who introduced young readers to rural Uganda in A Good Trade (illustrated by Karen Patkau; 2013), provides a positive picture of community cooperation in another rural setting, identified as Kenya in the publisher's cataloging. (A portion of the book's profits will go to Creation of Hope, a project supporting orphans from and around Kikima, Kenya.) For reading aloud or alone, a nourishing choice. (Picture book. 4-7)

PreS-Gr 2 With echoes of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," this amusing tale set in a Kenyan school garden tells the story of students and their teachers making soup. A girl's recalcitrant goats, however, do little to help with the process: "Kioni has a herd of goats,/with hair of calico./And everywhere Kioni goes,/those goats are sure to&30;Oh, no!" Finally, one clever student realizes that the animals have just the right ingredient to add to the meal: their milk. This title will be a fun read-aloud, with lots of opportunities for listeners to predict the upcoming action. The full-color, mixed-media collages steal the show. The illustrations add texture and vibrancy to the tale and advance the plot on several wordless pages. The book ends with a recipe for pumpkin vegetable soup. A great choice for group sharing or for units on communities. Sara-Jo Lupo Sites, George F. Johnson Memorial Library, Endicott, NY