GRANITE BABY

Considerably taller than average, this original tale pits five towering, talented but not naturally maternal sisters against a wee baby whose continual howls actually rise in a cloud to cover parts of three New England states. Big Beryl has no trouble carving whole towns out of stone, but when she sets her chisel to making a tiny baby, the resulting noise sends her and her variously gifted sisters into such a tizzy that they can’t rightly understand even the savvy advice of Nellie, a more commonly sized lass with “two dozen or so little brothers and sisters.” Depicted as burly, mountain-sized figures, dressed in work clothes and generally exuding a capable air, the sisters tramp through their green New Hampshire hills, desperately performing one astounding feat after another as Lil Fella bawls ever more lustily. The light only dawns when, at last, Nellie takes matters into her own hands—or, to be more exact, arms—and peace is soon restored. Fans of Jerdine Nolen’s Big Jabe (2000), Catherine Anderson’s Steamboat Annie and the Thousand Pound Catfish (2001), and similar outsized yarns will holler with glee at this new arrival. (Picture book. 7-9)