The Shindig Is Coming!

Shorts-wearing Mouse has big—potentially alarming—news for her fellow woodland inhabitants: there’s going to be a shindig in the forest. The announcement sends fearful Opossum into the first of many preemptive swoons and reveals that no one knows what a shindig is, though there is speculation that it might involve a “GIANT KITTY versus SWAMPY GREEN THING.” Overbearing, dictionary-toting Bear enters the fray, and informs the group that “SHINDIG is just a fancy word for PARTY,” which impels Mouse and her peers to rejoice (“A party is like a meeting, but it’s fun”). When a blue jay flies by to repeat the titular phrase—to which Bear roars, “We got the invitation!”—the bird delivers another faint-worthy missive: “That wasn’t an invitation... that was a warning.” Though the narrative arc often plays second fiddle to over-the-top characterizations and sly zingers about finicky group dynamics and oversize egos, Mericle (I Cannot Draw a Bicycle) packs the pages with mischievous typography and graphic elements that flirt with midcentury modern design, folk art, and psychedelia, making for a freewheeling chapter book party. Ages 6–10. (Aug.)