A bookmark accompanies readers through a book as the sounds that the creatures and things within make become increasingly bizarre.First, an apple goes "crunch" when you eat it. Sure. Then a flower says, "CHUGGA CHUGGA CHOO CHOO!!!!" What? And then a bicycle-or wait, isn't that a puppy?-belches. Huh. When an "elephant"-actually, a brown-skinned firefighter-says, "DING-DONG!" the bookmark has had it and must correct the unseen narrator: "It's a firefighter, and a firefighter says stuff like ‘Hey! Let's go put out that fire!'" As the story progresses, more and more creatures make the wrong noises. Bicycles referred to as lions moo, a chicken (dubbed a fish) goes "SPLISH-SPLASH-SPLISH!" and a shark ("a yummy hamburger") says, "BAWK BAWK BAWK and COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!" Finally, the increasingly distressed bookmark makes one last attempt to right the inaccurate onomatopoeia. This fast-paced tale balances the narration's straightforward delivery of inaccurate statements with the bookmark's initial confusion and later frustration to create a hilarious subversion of expectations. Little ones will delight in the obvious errors, and the right reader will be able to deliver the various "moos" and "beeps," with humorous results. Exuberant illustrations-the hyper-expressive bookmark is especially funny-as well as the use of different typefaces further compound the ridiculousness of the characters' antics, making for a colorful and high-energy reading experience.Chaotic fun, perfect for read-alouds. (Picture book, 3-5.)

PreS-Gr 2 —The wordplay and high jinks begin on the cover, with the author's name printed as Nightwalt and edited to Daywalt in a scrawl; the illustrator's name is also corrected, as are several other details. What's really wrong with The Wrong Book ? The answer is that perhaps the creators have gotten everything right about being wrong in a book that becomes incrementally sillier.The apple sounds crunchy as it's being eaten but the flower makes a sound that is closer to the choo-choo of the train. The bicycle says, "Burp!" and the firefighter, a smiling woman with brown skin and black hair, is labeled an elephant and says, "Ding-Dong!" The small yellow bookmarks that puzzle their way through these pages are no closer to understanding the book when it closes than when it opened, forcing the lesson on children following along this madness that, perhaps, things just don't make sense. It's absurd, sometimes funny, and confusing when the one bookmark that seems to know what's what has no better luck at corralling the nonsense. VERDICT For hardened and impervious Daywalt fans, this will go down smooth, but it's not a must purchase.—Ginnie Abbott