Mr. King's Machine

PreS-Gr 2—The impetuous cat in a crown hat is back in Côté's third "Mr. King" book. Previous episodes have taught him to stop dumping his unwanted things in the water and not to build a bigger home with materials that deplete the land. Now he's polluting the air and tearing up the ground, all because a caterpillar has chewed a flower. His animal friends pursue him, but he can't hear them over the noise of his new machine. Only after he catches the distressed, perspiring caterpillar does he stop, look, and listen: "'KUF! KUF! Didn't you notice the smoke your machine was spitting out?' asks Old Jim Elk. 'Or the flowers you trampled?' complains Harriet. 'Why chase that caterpillar anyway?' asks P.J. 'It will become a butterfly one day!' 'And did you know that butterflies help flowers grow when they fly from plant to plant?' adds Tex." The clever and inventive Mr. King converts his creation into something that even a caterpillar can appreciate. The story is told with engaging simplicity, and the sound effects of Mr. King's Caterpillar-Catcher ("VROOM! VROOM!") will make it irresistible to read aloud. The mixed-media illustrations are, as in all of Côté's works, childlike, vivid, and immensely likable.