Nibbles' Garden

PreS—When industrious guinea pigs Nibbles and Posie find six caterpillars eating their prize plants, they decide to keep them. Their friend Mr. Rosetti encourages the pair to give their new pets clean jars and juicy leaves instead of "little woolly socks" and jelly beans. The caterpillars thrive, but then one day, they disappear. The frantic friends hang "Lost!" posters all over town, but Mr. Rosetti helps them understand that "when you lose a caterpillar, you find a butterfly." Though the story offers no specifics about the process of metamorphosis, it is an excellent jumping-off point for the topic. Middleton's sunny mixed-media illustrations are a feast for the eyes, with adorable, expressive guinea pigs and visual jokes tucked into the backgrounds, such as the guinea-pig versions of famous pieces of art hanging in the town's museum. A lovely addition to spring storytimes—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD