Starred Review Agee and his simple, droll watercolors return with a work that manages to be absurdist, alarming, and st when you least expect it ignant. It begins with a husband and wife awakened by a noise. The man investigates, but it's just their nondescript little beagle, Stanley, howling at the moon. Back to bed, until the Wimbledons' first child arrives complaining of basement clanging. Dad checks it out; it's only Stanley on a stepladder, weirdly modifying the oil tank. Well, back to bed again, until the next child arrives with a beef about a weird smell: Stanley, in the kitchen with tubes and beakers, is mixing up something strange. And so it goes, child after child, complaint after complaint, with the expressionless Stanley continuing his bizarro behavior and technological tinkering. The Chris Van Allsburg stiffness is almost ominous when combined with the Edgar Allan Poe cadence: "The Wimbledons were sleeping. / It was late as it could get, / When Wanda heard a buzzing noise / That made her all upset." The shocking twist is that Stanley has jiggered the house into a rocket, and the final rhyming word, moon member how Stanley howled at it? cleverly left unsaid, as the house lands on the moon, and Stanley holds paws with a cute pink moon-dog. Very strange, and very, very wonderful.

PreS-Gr 2 Agee applies his trademark humor to a wacky new picture book, featuring Stanley, a beagle whose odd nocturnal activities keep his family from sleeping. The single-minded canine drives the Wimbledons crazy one night, howling at the moon, fixing the oil tank, repairing an old TV, and making catfish stew, before finally revealing his master plan. Written in verse, the text serves up plenty of laughs, though a few rhymes seem a bit forced ("It was late as it can get,/When Wanda heard a buzzing noise/That made her all upset."). Agee's signature cartoon style is ideal for the narrative, and the expressions of the various characters, from the endearingly eccentric, steadfast Stanley to the beleaguered Wimbledons, are simple yet endlessly entertaining. The responses of the put-upon family cat in particular will provoke plenty of giggles (for instance, it's seen slurping at the catfish stew on a spread, then turning green on the following one). Sound effects ("SPLISH SPLASH," "KAPOW!") add to the zany humor, making this one perfect for read-alouds. The out-of-this-world but amusing conclusion is appropriately odd and surprising. Agee knows what his young readers wantplain sillinessand he delivers. Hilarious. Mahnaz Dar , School Library Journal