PreS-Gr 3 Another appealing offering featuring the spirited fox sisters. In the first chapter, Zelda and Ivy run away from home when cucumber sandwiches appear on the lunch menu. They take a blanket and their favorite toys to their backyard, where they can keep an eye on their parents, who dont seem to miss them at all. When they finally go back inside, they discover that their father has saved them the very sandwiches that they were trying to avoid. In the second episode, the siblings are making a time capsule to be opened in one hundred years. Zelda drops in her lucky jewel, while Ivy adds her cherished doll. It doesnt take long, however, for the sisters to realize that they cant part with their favorite possessions. The third chapter finds Ivy making a secret potion and Zelda struggling to write a haiku. Then their friend Eugene comes up with a clever way to use Ivys concoction to ease Zeldas writing pains. Bright, expressive cartoon illustrations complement the fine writing in this beginning reader. Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI

Adorable fox sisters Zelda and Ivy return in a beginning chapter book divided into three episodes. In the first story, Zelda rebels when she learns that Dad has made cucumber sandwiches for lunch, again: That's it. I'm running away. Ivy follows, and after packing their essentials (pj's, Princess Mimi doll, tea set), the sisters decamp to a secluded spot in the yard. In this and in the following stories, which focus on the sisters' time capsule and on an invented love potion, Kvasnosky weaves in brisk, pitch-perfect dialogue: I wish we had cookies, says Ivy, hiding in the yard. Be tough, Zelda responds. Children will recognize the details and the sibling dynamics, which are nicely enhanced in the gouache pictures' saturated colors and uncluttered scenes. Whether reading alone or aloud, kids will look forward to more from the fox sisters, who find excitement and adventure in the cozy indoors as well as in familiar backyards.

Those affectionate fox sisters have exchanged the large picture-book trim size of their earlier three books for the more intimate format of a beginning reader. The two run away from home (to the backyard) in protest of the lunch menu; create a time capsule; and discover "creative juice." Bright illustrations carry the plot for readers who may need a little help.

In three new episodes, the Fox sisters discover that not even running out to hide in the yard will save them from yet another lunch of cucumber sandwiches, that it's not a good idea to put something you'll miss into a time capsule and that a sprinkle of "creative juices" made from a secret formula can dispel the most stubborn case of writer's block. As in previous appearances, the sisters, their parents and Ivy's friend Eugene (the one who suggests the "creative juice") are depicted as long-nosed foxes, furred in various bright orangey tones but placed in human settings. Unlike previous outings, these wry tales are presented in easy-reader format, and they'll make tasty fare for newer readers. (Easy reader. 5-7)