Sheep in a Shop

“Another shear delight . . . There’s nothing sheepish about these lambs; they’re energetic, expressive, and completely disarming. A rambunctious romp.” —School Library Journal (starred review)   These “totally delightful sheep” (Kirkus Reviews) are off to the store in search of the perfect birthday gift in this wild and woolly picture book in the beloved series of rhymed read-alouds.   “It is no easy trick to tell an interesting story in the few and simple words that the [picture book] form allows. The ideal story is full of event; it provides something surprising, or interesting, or funny, on every page and glides sweetly and upbeatly to a satisfying end. Ideally, too, there is music in the words. [Shaw] does all these things with seeming ease . . . .by using wonderfully intricate, hard-driving comic verse to tell her story. Her short, vivid lines are pared down to the barest essentials. Yet she juggles with interior rhymes, alliteration, assonance and cacophonies of consonants, creating the verbal surprises that children love.” —The New York Times Book Review    “Hilarious havoc.” —Publishers Weekly   “Apple’s warmly comic illustrations are the perfect complement to Shaw’s exquisitely concise wordplay.” —Kirkus Reviews