BEE-WIGGED

Jerry is a pretty sweet guy—honey-sweet, in fact—but he’s also the most enormous bee anyone has ever seen. And people can’t see past that giant stinger; despite the fact that he’s never used it, Jerry is friendless. Fate drops a wig at his feet one day, which he promptly puts on his head. “This wig makes me look just like a boy,” Jerry thinks. He actually looks like a giant bumblebee with a cow pie on his head, but therein lies the charm. The people, clueless, accept Jerry, and he gets to showcase his fine qualities. It is not an ill wind that blows Jerry’s wig off, for it turns out to be “Wiglet, a very hairy guinea pig,” who reminds the panicking citizenry that Jerry is kind, funny and generous. The daffy winsomeness of Bell’s art is given aesthetic heft by her gorgeous use of color, bold outlines containing saturated blues, greens and, of course, bumblebee-yellows. Is Jerry a little too cute to serve as a vehicle to combat prejudice? Hardly—no one’s about to kill this messenger. (Picture book. 4-8)