Pip & Pup

In this simple, well-paced, and funny wordless picture book about a new friendship, a just-hatched chick sets off to explore the barnyard. Pip's initial encounters are stressful-first chased by a puppy and then almost stepped on by huge cows and humans-and the little chick retreats back to the egg it hatched from, finding security inside the shell's two halves. Then rain begins to fall, complete with thunder and lightning-and Pip sees that the puppy is miserable and afraid. Compassionately, Pip tries to protect the (much larger) Pup, offering one half of the eggshell as shelter (hey, it worked for Pip!). With this bond established and the sun coming out, the two new friends play exuberantly together-too exuberantly, it transpires, as in all the excitement Pup accidentally smashes Pip's eggshell to smithereens. But Pup knows what to do: offer a tennis ball to play with. Yelchin's visual humor here is spot-on for preschoolers; his wordless storytelling is flawless; and his palette of spring colors and use of colored pencils and oil pastels on highly textured paper bring life and energy to the page. martha v. parravano