Books for Keiki
Moving from pictures to words

By Jolie Jean Cotton

When what he thought was a jellyfish snack turns out to be a plastic bag, sea turtle Harry finds himself choking on ocean litter in this environmental morality tale by Lisa Matsumoto. Michael Furuya Lisa Matsumoto book signings 1 p.m. today, Borders-Ward Centre 1 p.m. tomorrow, Borders-Waikele

Local playwright Lisa Matsumoto is best known as creator of the award-winning "Once Upon One Time" trilogy and "The Princess and the Iso Peanut." But Matsumoto and illustrator Michael Furuya have teamed up to produce a number ofæterrific picture books for children, and this latest is no exception.

Gary and Harry first came to life in Matsumoto's educational touring show "In the Clear Blue Sea." Although in the original production their names are Honu and 'Ea, their story here is much the same.

Gary the green sea turtle and Harry the hawksbill turtle enjoy playing, visiting friends and exploring the ocean. Danger ensues when Harry decides to snack on a jellyfish and swallows a plastic bag by mistake. Matsumoto is passionate about protecting the ocean and the creatures who live there. Although her message is not subtle, it's delivered, as usual, in an entertaining fashion.

Furuya's illustrations are fantastically fun. His characters express the stories' wide range of emotions: joy, curiosity and fear. The final pages are filled with color photographs, details of marine life and half a dozen ways people can be better ocean visitors.

Matsumoto says this book is the first of a planned series of adventures for "Gary and Harry."

Although picture books, including several of Matsumoto's, are overflowing from the bookshelves at our house, our interests are beginning to shift to longer illustrated stories.

Here are two new titles from separate series for beginning readers that we really enjoy:

Captain Underpants tries to foil an evil genius in the fourth entry of the series. Dav Pilkey

I recently asked a local school librarian for a copy of anything in the Captain Underpants series. "We've had several of those books, but they keep disappearing," she answered with raised eyebrows. (What does that tell you?)

Young troublemakers George Beard and Harold Hutchins are the authors of their own comic books, featuring Captain Underpants, a.k.a. their grouchy principal at Jerome Horwitz Elementary, Mr. Krupp. When the boys hypnotize Mr. Krupp with their 3-D Hypno Ring, he becomes Captain Underpants, faster than a speeding waistband, more powerful than boxer shorts.

In this fourth book in the series, Captain Underpants must combat Professor Pippy P. Poopypants, a scientific genius from Swissland. Swissland is a country southeast of Greenland where everybody has a silly name: "Just ask their president, the Honorable Chuckles Jingleberry McMonkeyburger Jr. or his lovely wife, Stinky."

Pilkey's cartoon illustrations are packed with potty humor, and several pages feature Flip-O-Rama, a "cheesy animation technique."

Pilkey is a master at silly, gross- out humor.

"JUNIE B. JONES IS CAPTAIN FIELD DAY" by Barbara Park, Random House, $3.99; ages 6-9

Being the parent of a 5-year-old, I can attest that author Barbara Park knows what makes a kindergartner tick. These stories are told in Junie's voice. Some parents will be irritated by her bad grammar. I find it endearing.

In this story, the 16th in a series, Junie's kindergarten class is having a field day, where the kids will compete against another class in tug-o-war, relay races and pull-ups. Her teacher, whom Junie calls "Mrs.," decides the best way to choose a team captain is to have the children pick slips of paper out of a hat. The one who picks the paper with the word "captain" written on it wins:

"When Mrs. got to my table, my heart was pumping very much. She held up the basket for me to pick. I reached in real careful. Then I digged and digged all around in there. Mrs. tapped her foot. 'Please, Junie B. Just pick one, okay?' she said. 'Yeah, but I don't think my fingers have touched the right paper yet,' I said. 'I'm waiting to get the right vives.'

"'Vibes,' said Mrs. 'It's short for vibrations.'

"'Whatever,' I said. Then I digged and digged some more. 'For the love of Pete!' said Mrs. 'Just pick one.'"

Junie and her classmates have a devilish time in each competition, until an unlikely hero saves the day.