The stack

Tucked under the covers in her top-floor bedroom, brown-skinned Luna says of the eerie deep purple night, "It's too dark!" But instead of waiting for someone older to brighten things, Luna takes a single red chair and starts stacking increasingly improbable items, one on top of another. But to what end? As she builds the pile, Luna exhibits ever more impressive feats of strengths and ingenuity. With a backward overhead throw, she tosses a claw-footed bathtub occupied by "her tallest friend"--a pink-skinned bather--to the top of the stack, then follows up by hurling items including "grandpa's station wagon" (a classic woodie) and a dragon; she also slingshots a whale and catapults a neighbor's house. When the stack reaches into the night sky, Luna clambers to the top, grabs a star, and brings it home to be her night-light. Through it all, Roeder's (The Box Turtle) mixed-media art combines a miniaturist's precision with a playful sense of scale and perspective. Readers can fully appreciate every item Luna employs to reach her goal, and see how her achievement stacks up against her diminutive, footed-pajama stature. Ages 4--8. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Feb.)

K-Gr 2--Luna wants to catch a star, but she's too short. That doesn't stop her, and she begins to stack objects to get her closer and closer to the stars. Her stack starts like many climbing stacks do--with a chair and some books. But soon, Luna finds she needs more height, so she adds a whale, a car, a pirate ship--and so much more!--until she finally grabs one star to take back to her room. Roeder has written and illustrated a fun story about a young girl's fear of the dark--and how she uses her imagination to soothe her fear. Using shifting perspective in the illustrations to emphasize just how high Luna has to climb, the colorful artwork captures the creativity and movement of her tossing funny, unexpected objects onto the stack. The text and art take on a momentum and direction, moving readers along, up, and down, and all around. VERDICT Save for noisy story hours, for while young readers will enjoy discovering what Luna finds to toss on the stack next--they may have suggestions for contributions of their own.--Jessica Schriver, Rutgers Univ., Camden, NJ