ONE FINE TRADE

In this sprightly Southern rendition of a familiar folktale, Georgy Piney Woods sets out to trade a “rail-skinny horse” for a “shiny silver dollar” to buy his daughter Georgianne a wedding dress. He does get that dollar in the end—but not before he swaps the horse for a cow, the cow for a hound dog and so on through a few more seemingly bad bargains. Miller employs a down-home diction that revels in its orality: “ ‘Got no silver dollar,’ said the old woman. Her old hound dog hooowled. ‘I can surely use a cow.’ ” Brisk pacing and cliffhanger page turns make this a natural for either telling or reading, and Hillenbrand’s bright scenes of a smiling peddler in rustic dress striding through field, forest and swamp in search of the next transaction add plenty of color and spirit. Consider as a fresh and funny alternative to George Shannon’s Piney Woods Peddler (1981) or the various singleton versions of “Hans in Luck.” (Picture book/folktale. 6-9)