Is the Spaghetti Ready?

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Perhaps no one has their finger on the pulse of the pre-reader market
better than the writer-illustrator team of Frank B. Edwards and John
Bianchi. By using a simple combination of bright colors, endearing
characters, and repetitive but not monotonous storylines, the books in
their New Readers series strongly appeal to both toddlers and adults. In
these latest volumes in the series, food, friendship, and a bath are the
links between a collection of zany zoo critters and their keeper.

In Is the Spaghetti Ready? hungry animals come marching two by two to
inquire about the status of dinner. Each beast is sent on his or her way
with a heaping plate of pasta by the hardworking zookeeper. Only after
the last animal is fed can the keeper finally enjoy a plate of pasta
herself. To her delight, she discovers all the animals sitting patiently
at the dinner table, waiting for her to join them.

New at the Zoo is about a little frog who has just moved into the zoo.
He asks each of the senior animals if they will play with him. All tell
him that they are too busy to play because they are going

to a party. The tiny frog feels lonely, rejected, and not a little
miffed, until he discovers the party is for him.

In Troubles with Bubbles, the animals are tired and dirty after a hard
day at the playground. The zookeeper provides each with soap and a
towel. But, because the animals are big on soaping but not on rinsing,
the cleanup isn’t complete until the keeper clears the air with a
mighty blast from a water hose.

As in the first three books in the series, Bianchi’s illustrations
are augmented with a nifty computer-generated optical illusion that
gives a 3-D appearance to the trees and animal characters. Whether
purchased singly or as a set, these books will be read over and over.
Highly recommended.