WAKE THE DEAD

Readers unable to absorb pun-ishment, beware! Rambunctious young Henry ignores warnings that his noise will wake the dead—until it does just that. Rising from the local cemetery, a band of irritated corpses goes in search of the racket’s source. Is it the library? No, only dead silence there. The Mayor’s office? Nothing there but skeletons in the closet. The Dead Letter Office? Nope. Relentlessly giving every conceivable expression involving death a literal turn, Harris sends the searchers—portrayed in Kwas’s cartoon illustrations as shrouded but unfrightening figures with peanut-shaped heads—from swimming pool (“A boneheaded idea, since they were dead in the water”) to the park where they’re set to “work their fingers to the bone pushing up daisies.” At last they catch up with Henry, who tries to put them back down with games (“Kick the Bucket”), races (ending in a dead heat), and dance music (“Staying Alive”)—but in the end, it’s a good, old-fashioned bedtime story (Goodnight Goon) that does the trick. A dead cinch for storytime. (Picture book. 6-9)