It Was You, Blue Kangaroo! - Softcover

In this third installment of Emma Chichester Clark's cute, clever series, Lily tries to convince her mother that it's Blue Kangaroo--not her!--who's to blame for a series of mishaps, from an overflowing sink to her little brother's head having an unfortunate run-in with a bucket. Blue Kangaroo, of course, sees the writing on the wall each time, and his worried little face (for which Clark gives him momentary use of eyeballs) provides the book's most genius comedy. In the end, Lily's mother wisely decides to punish the wee 'roo ("'Well, if Blue Kangaroo can't behave, he'll have to sit by himself downstairs,' ... And she put him on top of the bookcase out of reach."), so then Blue Kangaroo himself has to look out for Lily one last time and resolve the conflict.

Clark's droll and pleasantly repetitive text will be fun for kids to read (or hear), but her smartly drawn characters and simple, bright watercolors convey enough story that they could nearly carry the book without a single word. (Ages 2 to 6) --Paul Hughes