New York City brownstones can be noisy, especially when a musical cat and tap-dancing kangaroos are the tenants, and sleepy bears are trying to hibernate in peace.
The piano-playing cat yowls "DO-RE-MEOW!" just as Mr. Bear has set his alarm for March. Mr. Bear knocks on Mr. Owl's door to complain about Miss Cat, and the landlord responds, "Perhaps the Pigs will change apartments with you. Then you would have the Mice next door. They are nice and quiet." The Pigs are delighted to move, and "Soon the staircase was busy." Thus begins the grand animal shuffle, all shown as a hilarious peek-a-boo cross-section of the six small brownstone apartments. Paula Scher's entertaining story, packed with sound effects from CRASH! to THUMP-THUMP-THUMPETY-THUMP! is wonderful to read aloud, and the splendid pen-and-ink illustrations by Stan Mack ("Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies"; Ten Bears in My Bed) will delight a new generation in this 2016 edition of the 1972 classic.
Children will love tracking the animal families as they move their modest belongings from floor to floor, and comical details abound. The Kangaroos, for instance, are clutching a book called Dance at Home, and Mr. Owl's owl portrait looks surprised, tired or angry, depending on the scenario. In the end, Mr. Owl arrives at the perfect arrangement for those who want to sing and dance and those who want quiet; those who want to eat, and those, like the Mice, who just want to avoid being eaten. A fabulous, funny ode to cacophonous but ultimately harmonious problem-solving. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness