(3) K-3 Illustrated by Fritz Wegner. A couple goes to the Baby Shop and selects not a human but a cat baby that they grow to adore. Set in an earlier (and weirder) time, this small-scale book offers big rewards, including its winking narration, surreal details (the Baby Shop features a robot baby), and meticulous illustrations suggesting a cross between Beatrix Potter and Edward Gorey.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(2) PS Illustrated by Fritz Wegner. Not the cumulative Russian story but "a traditional English tale" in which a poor man grows an enormous turnip and gives it to the king, who rewards him with a wagon full of gold. An envious, wealthy neighbor then gives the king a fine horse--only to get the turnip in return. Alderson's telling is spare, witty, and engagingly informal, and Wegner's pen-and-watercolor art is charmingly detailed.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 1999